A state healthcare organisation has created a politically charged website criticising the ballot measure, and state police are calling voters in Florida to enquire about signing a petition to place an amendment on the ballot concerning abortion rights in November.
Critics claim that these are the most recent attempts by Republican-led elected officials in Florida to use state resources in an attempt to thwart the abortion rights legislation; some Democratic officials counter that such actions may be in violation of state laws prohibiting voter intimidation.
“Ron (DeSantis) has repeatedly used state power to interfere with a citizen-led process to get reproductive freedom on the ballot,” Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried told reporters on Monday. “This is their latest desperate attempt before Election Day.”
Amendment 4, a ballot measure, would make abortion rights a legal requirement in Florida. Should the treatment be approved by 60% of voters, it would stay lawful until the patient’s medical professional determines that the foetus is viable.
One of the almost one million signatories to the petition to place the proposal on the ballot, Isaac Menasche, claimed that last week, a law enforcement official in Lee County, southwest Florida, came to his door to enquire about his signature.
According to the Tampa Bay Times, the officer stated that the questioning was a component of an investigation into purported petition fraud.
“I’m not a person who is going out there protesting for abortion,” Menasche told the newspaper. “I just felt strongly, and I took the opportunity when the person asked me to say, ‘Yeah, I’ll sign that petition.’”
The inquiry, according to critics, is a blatant attempt to scare voters in the third-largest state in the nation into not supporting abortion access. It is also the latest in a string of actions taken by the governor’s office to attack Amendment 4.
“Amendment 4 was placed on the ballot by nearly one million Floridians around the state and across party lines who believe that people, not politicians, deserve the freedom to make their own health care decisions,” Lauren Brenzel, the director of the Yes on 4 campaign, said in an email. “But the State will stop at nothing to keep in place their near-total abortion ban.”
Most abortions are currently prohibited by Florida law after six weeks of pregnancy, which is before many women even realise they are pregnant.
Speaking at a press conference in South Florida on Monday, DeSantis supported the police going door-to-door to speak with petition signers and the state healthcare agency’s decision to launch a website critical of the ballot proposal, arguing that both actions are necessary to ensure that the vote in November is fair.
In 2022, DeSantis signed legislation establishing a state police force tasked with looking into crimes about elections and voter fraud. Voter fraud is uncommon, usually only happens in isolated cases, and is usually discovered.
He claimed that the reason elections police are visiting the houses of petition signers to get Amendment 4 on the ballot is not to scare them, but rather because concerns have been raised over the authenticity of the signatures. According to him, the police have discovered proof that some of the purported signatures belonged to deceased individuals.
“Anyone who submitted a petition that is a valid voter, that is totally within their rights to do it,” DeSantis said. “We are not investigating that. What they are investigating is fraudulent petitions. We know that this group did submit on behalf of dead people.”
State law stipulates that there is no longer a deadline for contesting the legitimacy of the signatures, but election administrators at the county level in Florida report that they have been contacted by state representatives requesting the certified petition signatures as part of an investigation.
After 16 years in her role as Osceola County’s Supervisor of Elections, Mary Jane Arrington, a Democrat, told The Associated Press that she had never before received a request similar to this one.
Arrington stated that she was unsure of how to respond to the state’s request to examine signatures that her office had previously confirmed.
“These are ones that we deemed the petition valid, both in completeness and in their signature matching what we had on file for the voter,” Arrington said. “They said they were investigating … signature petition fraud.”
According to a letter from Deputy Secretary of State Brad McVay detailing purportedly fake petitions in Palm Beach County that was provided with the AP, the state’s elections crime unit has started more than 40 investigations into paid signature gatherers working for the Amendment 4 campaign.
Previous criminal cases filed by the contentious Office of Election Crimes and Security have been dismissed by judges.
A new website criticising Amendment 4 was unveiled by a state healthcare organisation last week. Its landing page declared, “Florida is Protecting Life” and cautioned, “Don’t let the fearmongers lie to you.”
According to DeSantis, the budget the department has set aside for public service announcements is what pays for the page that the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration established. He claimed that rather than being political, the page provides Floridians with “factual information” regarding the amendment.
All of the information released is accurate. At the press conference, DeSantis declared, “It is not electioneering, and I am glad they are doing it.”
Nine states have qualified to see ballot propositions protecting access to abortion in 2024, Florida included.
Other tactics have been employed by Florida Republicans to block the state abortion ballot initiative. Ashley Moody, the Republican attorney general of Florida, tried to prevent abortion from being on the ballot by using the state Supreme Court. Later, proponents of abortion rights accused the proposed amendment’s financial impact statement of being an attempt to deceive voters by placing it next to the proposed amendment on the ballot. In August, the California Supreme Court decided to keep the text on the ballot.
A variety of tactics are being used nationwide by anti-abortion organisations and their Republican supporters to oppose ballot proposals that seek to defend women’s rights. Legislative campaigns for opposing ballot initiatives that may mislead voters and protracted court battles over the wording of ballot initiatives have been two examples of these strategies.
For example, the state Supreme Court of Nebraska has yet to rule on three lawsuits that seek to prevent abortion from being allowed on the ballot. Additionally, on Tuesday, the Missouri Supreme Court will hear arguments in an appeal of a decision made by a lower court that an abortion rights campaign was ineligible for the November ballot due to legal issues.
On September 9, 2024, this tale was initially released. On September 10, 2024, it was modified to reflect that the letter detailing purportedly fraudulent petitions was directed at Palm Beach County and not about Palm Beach County.
