TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) – Backers of a proposal to change the constitution to ban same-sex marriage fell short Feb. 1 as the deadline passed for garnering enough support to get the amendment on this year’s ballot.

Two efforts to get petition questions on the November ballot had already turned in the required signatures – some 611,000 from various parts of the state – to get to the next step, which is a review by the state Supreme Court of the language on the proposed amendment.

One of those would set a floor for how much lawmakers can spend on youth anti-tobacco education programs each year; the other would change the way legislative district boundaries are drawn, a key factor in determining who holds the political power in the state.

The other group that appeared to have a shot to continue its effort to get on the ballot as the Feb. 1 deadline approached was florida4marriage.org. The group, backed by the Republican Party, wants the Florida constitution to define marriage as the union between one man and one woman. Florida law already states the same.

Organizers mounted a last-day push to get petitions turned in, but fell short turning in only about 455,000 signatures of the 611,009 needed, said John Stemberger the leader of the petition effort.

“It was an amazingly strong showing considering the resources we had,” Stemberger said. “If it takes another two years, it’s worth the wait.”

Gov. Jeb Bush said last week that if the measure didn’t succeed, he may talk to lawmakers about whether the state law that already defines marriage needs strengthening, or constitutional protection. He noted that there’s no current challenge to the law, but said it would be hard to respond after the fact if someone did successfully challenge it.

“Hopefully it just won’t succeed because it’s the wrong thing,” said Pastor Paul Anway, who performs same-sex union ceremonies – not legal marriages – at a Christian church in Tallahassee. “When we see people, groups and organizations using a religious standpoint to oppose this, it feels very discriminatory; it feels like they’re trying to create a group of second-class citizens.”