A charter reform group hoping to expand the Miami Commission and reschedule the city’s elections just delivered an additional 5,000 signed petitions to the Clerk’s Office, bringing the total to over 18,000.
The newly submitted petitions move the nonprofit Stronger Miami’s campaign ever closer to the roughly 20,000 valid signatures required under state law for the measures to qualify.
More petition deliveries are planned in the coming weeks, the group said.
Mel Meinhardt, a Board member of the homeowners advocacy group One Grove Alliance and a member of the campaign, said the latest submission reflects growing participation across Miami.
The message, he said in a statement, is that residents are “demanding a government that is more accountable, more responsive, and more focused on results.”
The proposed charter changes would expand the Miami Commission from five to nine members, a move supporters say would create smaller districts and improve local representation.
The measures would also shift city elections to November in even-numbered years, aligning them with federal elections, which supporters say would increase voter turnout and reduce election-related costs.
Further, the proposals would establish enforceable redistricting standards, building on Miami’s newly approved Citizens’ Redistricting Committee, which is tasked with drawing commission district maps after each census.
Teresa Guzman Pagan of Florida Rising said the campaign is continuing to see support expand geographically.
“We’re seeing energy grow in every part of the city because Miamians want reforms that put communities first and make local government work better for everyone,” she said in a statement.
Stronger Miami announced in October that it had collected more than 10,000 signatures, crossing the halfway point toward the qualification threshold.
State records show Stronger Miami’s principals include lawyer Anthony Parrish, another One Grove Alliance Board member; Joseph Dye, a former associate with the ACLU of Florida who now runs an eponymous political strategy firm; and BFF Compliance partner Gloria Maggiolo, who has served as Treasurer for some 40 state-level political committees and numerous others at the county level, mostly for Democratic candidates.
The campaign is also backing a separate ballot measure scheduled for a vote in 2026 that would prohibit redistricting plans designed to favor or disfavor incumbents, following a federal court ruling that earlier Miami district maps were unlawfully drawn based on race.
