The Stronger Miami petition that seeks to change the form of Miami's government with more commission districts and new election dates celebrated a 20,000-signature milestone this week. However, according to documents from the Miami City Clerk's Office, not all of those signatures have been validated and the petition drive still has a long way to go.
READ MORE: Petition to change Miami government reaches key milestone
The ballot initiative seeks to change Miami's city charter to increase the number of commission districts from five to nine, move local elections to even years starting in 2028 and to ensure decennial redistricting does not split up neighborhoods and does not favor one political party over another.
The Stronger Miami Coalition, made up of nonprofit community groups like One Grove Alliance and Florida Rising, arose last year out of a bitter lawsuit brought by Miami residents alleging the city racially gerrymandered its voting map.
While the petition has reached around 20,500 total signatures, about 6,000 of those signatures were found invalid by the Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections (SOE).
According to the Miami City Clerk, the SOE has reviewed 13,416 petitions submitted by Stronger Miami so far. Of the petitions reviewed by the SOE, 7,203 petitions have been certified, meaning 6,213 petitions were not as of Feb. 25.
Members of the coalition remain undeterred, as they view the total number of signed petitions as a sign of widespread support for their initiative.
" There's a sense of inevitability. I think voters had a really strong message last year that they don't want more of the same, and Stronger Miami is exactly a continuation of that. So we're really excited to continue to listen to the will of the people and hope the commissioners and the mayor of course does," said Teresa Guzman Pagan, director of expanding democracy for Florida Rising.
The group said it will continue to collect signatures until it reaches the approximately 20,000 certified petition threshold it needs to get on the ballot for Miami voters, and still plans to meet with city leaders to discuss the initiative. Guzman Pagan said the group has refined its vetting process to ensure the signatures it receives now meet the SOE's requirements.
The SOE is currently reviewing approximately 5,000 signed petitions from Stronger Miami, and the group turned in an additional 1,000 on Thursday.
Supervisor of Elections Alina Garcia is the first SOE voted in since Florida law changed to make it a partisan elected position. The SOE was previously appointed by the Miami-Dade County Mayor. Garcia ran as a Republican and won in 2024.
Miami-Dade Democrats accused Garcia of pro-GOP bias last year after 100,000 registered Democrats were purged from the county's voter rolls. Garcia's office cited stricter rules for voter registration leading to voters deemed inactive to be removed from the system.
