Amendment 4 Florida Election Results by County
The results are in, and it’s great news for the solar energy industry in Florida. Amendment 4 passed in the August 30, 2016 Florida Primary Election with well over the 60% vote required. Over 2.7 Florida voters cast a ballot for the Amendment, with almost 2 million voting to approve. In total, 72.6% of the voters supported the initiative that made it onto the ballot with unanimous legislative approval.
Amendment 4 will allow the legislature to exempt residential and commercial solar energy equipment from property assessments for 20 years. While residential property owners have enjoyed this exemption already, this is seen as a big boost to the industry. The amendment also allows the legislature to eliminate the tangible property tax on the same equipment.
This move is largely tax neutral, because the state and county governments are collecting essentially no tax now. The solar energy industry supported this amendment as a job creator and economic win for Florida.
We break down the county-by-county vote below.
Heat Map of County Votes for Amendment 4
The county with the highest YES vote was Monroe County with 80.86%. The county with the lowest YES vote was Desoto with 45.06%. Only 7 of Florida’s 67 counties failed to reach the 60% threshold. These counties were Desoto, Lafayette, Jefferson, Liberty, Taylor, Hendry, and Dixie Counties. These counties represented less than 1% of the 2.7 million people that voted on Amendment 4.
Editorial Note: It’s important to note that located in DeSoto County is Florida Power & Light’s (FPL) Next Generation Solar Energy Center, a utility owned Photovoltaic power station in Arcadia, FL. FPL is against distributed customer owned solar generation.
In short, the entire state largely supported the measure with little opposition, sending the initiative’s backers to an easy win.
Table: County-by-County Results for Amendment 4
| County | Yes | No | PercentageYes |
| Alachua | 28,561 | 10,967 | 72.26% |
| Baker | 3,247 | 1,843 | 63.79% |
| Bay | 23,252 | 10,199 | 69.51% |
| Bradford | 3,905 | 2,181 | 64.16% |
| Brevard | 67,434 | 25,799 | 72.33% |
| Broward | 122,287 | 37,879 | 76.35% |
| Calhoun | 2,283 | 1,315 | 63.45% |
| Charlotte | 20,895 | 8,607 | 70.83% |
| Citrus | 21,709 | 11,689 | 65.00% |
| Clay | 28,004 | 12,213 | 69.63% |
| Collier | 41,313 | 16,805 | 71.08% |
| Columbia | 7,866 | 4,167 | 65.37% |
| Desoto | 2,190 | 2,670 | 45.06% |
| Dixie | 1,689 | 1,128 | 59.96% |
| Duval | 111,154 | 45,211 | 71.09% |
| Escambia | 35,573 | 16,892 | 67.80% |
| Flagler | 13,516 | 5,847 | 69.80% |
| Franklin | 2,303 | 985 | 70.04% |
| Gadsden | 7,258 | 4,069 | 64.08% |
| Gilchrist | 2,131 | 1,292 | 62.26% |
| Glades | 1,186 | 636 | 65.09% |
| Gulf | 2,381 | 1,348 | 63.85% |
| Hamilton | 1,920 | 1,159 | 62.36% |
| Hardee | 1,978 | 1,020 | 65.98% |
| Hendry | 2,526 | 1,777 | 58.70% |
| Hernando | 20,887 | 7,467 | 73.67% |
| Highlands | 11,613 | 5,163 | 69.22% |
| Hillsborough | 99,651 | 33,178 | 75.02% |
| Holmes | 3,172 | 1,833 | 63.38% |
| Indian River | 20,991 | 9,285 | 69.33% |
| Jackson | 6,881 | 4,263 | 61.75% |
| Jefferson | 2,861 | 2,050 | 58.26% |
| Lafayette | 1,167 | 870 | 57.29% |
| Lake | 35,402 | 14,110 | 71.50% |
| Lee | 77,571 | 30,195 | 71.98% |
| Leon | 42,762 | 17,242 | 71.27% |
| Levy | 4,976 | 2,716 | 64.69% |
| Liberty | 1,381 | 982 | 58.44% |
| Madison | 2,564 | 1,630 | 61.13% |
| Manatee | 40,686 | 15,213 | 72.78% |
| Marion | 39,008 | 17,714 | 68.77% |
| Martin | 24,368 | 9,250 | 72.48% |
| Miami-Dade | 168,653 | 58,585 | 74.22% |
| Monroe | 12,939 | 3,063 | 80.86% |
| Nassau | 13,647 | 6,165 | 68.88% |
| Okaloosa | 23,818 | 11,493 | 67.45% |
| Okeechobee | 3,169 | 1,762 | 64.27% |
| Orange | 90,137 | 31,060 | 74.37% |
| Osceola | 25,996 | 9,212 | 73.84% |
| Palm Beach | 114,677 | 34,804 | 76.72% |
| Pasco | 44,985 | 13,207 | 77.30% |
| Pinellas | 133,186 | 34,723 | 79.32% |
| Polk | 50,301 | 19,857 | 71.70% |
| Putnam | 8,228 | 4,361 | 65.36% |
| Santa Rosa | 20,128 | 10,910 | 64.85% |
| Sarasota | 55,508 | 17,576 | 75.95% |
| Seminole | 44,974 | 15,373 | 74.53% |
| St. Johns | 27,601 | 10,762 | 71.95% |
| St. Lucie | 30,976 | 14,874 | 67.56% |
| Sumter | 20,065 | 8,495 | 70.26% |
| Suwannee | 5,529 | 3,010 | 64.75% |
| Taylor | 2,757 | 1,950 | 58.57% |
| Union | 1,442 | 775 | 65.04% |
| Volusia | 63,046 | 22,493 | 73.70% |
| Wakulla | 6,334 | 2,858 | 68.91% |
| Walton | 8,736 | 3,790 | 69.74% |
| Washington | 3,947 | 2,167 | 64.56% |
