An effort to put questions on the 2026 ballot about expanding the Miami City Commission and moving city elections to coincide with federal races just crossed the halfway point in terms of required signatures.
Stronger Miami, a nonprofit that incorporated in March to broaden representation at City Hall and increase voter turnout, just announced that its workers have collected more than 10,000 petition signatures from registered Miami voters.
Backers need about 20,000 valid signatures to qualify for the 2026 ballot.
Mel Meinhardt, a Board member of the homeowners advocacy group One Grove Alliance who supports the campaign, said the milestone “demonstrates what we already know.”
“Miamians are ready for change and determined to build a government that truly listens, represents, and delivers,” he said in a statement.
“More than ten thousand voters have already raised their voices for reform — and thousands more will follow in the weeks ahead. The message is clear: Miami is ready for a City Hall that works for the people.”
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.
If approved, the changes Stronger Miami is pursuing would expand the City Commission from five to nine members, which the group says will ensure “smaller districts and better neighborhood representation,” and move Miami’s elections to November in even-numbered years, which supporters maintain will lower costs while boosting voter participation.
The organization is also supporting Amendment 3 on Miami’s Nov. 4 ballot this year, which would prohibit redistricting in the city that favors or disfavors a candidate or incumbent while establishing a new “Citizens’ Redistricting Committee” to redraw districts after each census.
“The Stronger Miami campaign was launched precisely because of unfairly drawn maps,” the group said on its website, referring to maps the City Commission approved in 2022 and 2023 that a federal Judge ruled last year were designed for “sorting (city) residents based on race.”
“We took the city to court. Now we have the opportunity to decide on having a place at the table.”