DeSantis administration reviewing abortion amendment petitions for ‘fraudsters’

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.