DeSantis defends use of election police in abortion petition probe

TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Ron DeSantis defended the use of his election police to question people who signed petitions for an amendment that would overturn the state’s six-week abortion ban, saying it’s part of an investigation that has already uncovered fraud.

“They’re doing what they’re supposed to do,” DeSantis said when asked during a news conference in Miami Lakes on Monday.

His comments were the first he’s made publicly on a broad and unusual effort by the Florida Department of State. In the last two weeks, the state sent requests to at least six county elections supervisors seeking copies of tens of thousands of signed and verified petitions in support of Amendment 4. The amendment, if approved by 60% of voters in November, would protect abortion access in Florida until viability.

State police have also knocked on some Floridians’ doors to question whether they really signed petitions to get the amendment on the ballot. The group behind the amendment collected nearly 1 million verified petitions.

One county supervisor told the Times the requests from the state were unprecedented. The state did not ask for rejected petitions — which have been the basis for past fraud cases — but instead only asked for already verified signatures.

DeSantis said Monday that his election police found that some verified petitions were not signed by the actual voter.

That prompted police to question voters, DeSantis said.

“It may be that the signature is totally different, and that voter will say, ‘No, I actually did do that,’” DeSantis said. “Maybe they signed their name. That is absolutely possible. And if that’s what you say, I think that’s probably the end of it.”

The investigation two months before the election has alarmed backers of Amendment 4, who have called it “election interference” and speculated that it could be a last-ditch effort to remove the amendment from the ballot. DeSantis has come out strongly against the amendment, organizing opposition and using state resources to advocate against it.

During a Monday news conference, Florida Democratic Party chairperson Nikki Fried said the party was bracing for a possible legal fight.

”This is all about theater, this is all about intimidation of the voters as people are about to go to the ballot box,” Fried said.

In at least three counties, the state requested verified petitions for specific congressional districts. One of the requirements for organizers to get an amendment on the ballot is to get a certain percentage of petitions signed in at least half of the state’s 28 congressional districts. The amendment group met that threshold in 17 districts.

Secretary of State Cord Byrd certified the amendment for placement on the ballot on Jan. 25.

The investigation started because the state received complaints about the petition gatherers working on behalf of Amendment 4, DeSantis said.

“There was a lot of complaints about this one group that was supporting Amendment 4 for a wide variety of reasons,” he said Monday. “It turns out, they looked, this group submitted dozens of petitions on behalf of dead people.”

To gather signatures, supporters of Amendment 4 paid a contractor behind several recently successful ballot amendments, including the 2016 amendment legalizing medical marijuana and the 2018 amendment allowing Floridians with felony convictions to vote.

DeSantis was not asked, and he did not say, whether he would try to invalidate the amendment depending on the results of the investigation.

Florida, like many states, has seen cases of petition fraud over the years, including in a failed 2022 effort to expand casino gambling. Until recently, petition gatherers were allowed to be paid per signature, a practice state lawmakers ended because they believed it encouraged fraud.

Jonathan Marshfield, a professor of constitutional law at the University of Florida, said he’s not aware of legal precedent the state could use to challenge the already validated petitions because a deadline in state law has already passed.

Democrats on Monday also criticized the state Agency for Health Care Administration for creating a website last week opposing Amendment 4, which they said was an abuse of state resources for a political message.

The website, which includes the agency’s seal, says that Amendment 4 “threatens women’s safety” and tells visitors that “Florida is protecting life.”

The health agency also launched an advertisement directing people to the anti-Amendment 4 website. The agency did not return requests for comment on how much it spent on airing the advertisement.

DeSantis on Monday called the agency’s website a “public service announcement” to “basically provide people with accurate information.”

“Everything that’s put out is factual. It is not electioneering,” DeSantis said. “It’s things that can absolutely be done through these public service announcements. And I’m glad they’re doing it.”