FLORIDA POLITICS
DeSantis administration looks for fraud in signed petitions that put abortion on ballot

BY JUSTIN GARCIA, LAWRENCE MOWER AND ROMY ELLENBOGEN HERALD/TIMES TALLAHASSEE BUREAU
SEPTEMBER 04, 2024 7:53 PM

Tallahassee

Florida’s Department of State is examining thousands of petition signatures that were used to get the abortion amendment on November ballots, saying it’s looking for fraud. … In a move that supporters of the amendment fear could be “political interference,” Gov. Ron DeSantis’ deputy secretary of state has asked supervisors in Hillsborough, Orange, Palm Beach and Osceola counties to gather roughly 36,000 signatures for the state to review.

The signatures were among the nearly 1 million collected — and verified by local supervisors as belonging to real Floridians — to permit Amendment 4 to appear before voters in November. The amendment would protect abortion access and undo the state’s six-week abortion ban that DeSantis championed.

Whether the request could be used to challenge the amendment or strike it from the ballot is not clear. A deadline in state law to challenge the validity of the signatures has long passed.

Defeating the amendment has become a top priority for DeSantis this fall. The governor has organized and supported one of the main groups opposing the initiative. … Two supervisors told the Times on Wednesday that the state’s inquiries were highly unusual.

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