A lawsuit filed in Orange County last week claims that the state of Florida “uncovered widespread fraud and illegality” while petition signatures were being collected for Amendment 4.
The plaintiffs in the case allege that many of the signatures on the Amendment 4 petitions were forgeries, belonged to dead people, or contained perjury.
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WHAT IS AMENDMENT 4?
Amendment 4 is one of six amendments on the ballot during this year’s General Election in Florida. It would enshrine abortion as a right in the state, meaning that the Legislature wouldn’t be allowed to regulate abortion except under certain conditions.
The ballot summary is as follows:
“No law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider. This amendment does not change the Legislature’s constitutional authority to require notification to a parent or guardian before a minor has an abortion.”
Amendment 4 Ballot Summary
HOW DID IT GET ON THE BALLOT?
Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in 2022, the issue of abortion access was returned to individual states.
As a result, a group called “Floridians Protecting Freedom” (FPF) put together a ballot initiative to enshrine abortion as a right under Florida’s constitution: Amendment 4.
To get on the ballot, an initiative petition for a new state amendment must be signed by at least 891,523 Florida voters, with a required number of signatures coming from at least 14 of the state’s congressional districts.
According to the lawsuit, FPF thusly hired a California-based company — PCI Consultants, Inc. — to lead the effort to collect signatures for their proposed amendment.
On Jan. 5, the Secretary of State determined that Amendment 4 had received the necessary number of signatures to go on the ballot in November. Just as with any amendment, Amendment 4 will need to get 60% of the vote to be approved.
WHAT ARE THE ACCUSATIONS?
Last week’s lawsuit points to a report issued earlier this month by Florida’s Office of Election Crimes and Security (OECS), which reportedly found several potential violations of state law during the signature-collection process.
Some of those claims in the lawsuit are as follows:
- Pay-per-signature scheme: The OECS report says that multiple reports were received of a “pay-per-signature” scheme in which petition circulators were paid for each signature they were able to obtain, which could be a violation of state law.
- Submissions through PCI: The report adds that circulators would submit FPF petition forms to PCI, not FPF, which could be a violation of state law.
- False petitions: Circulators reportedly submitted petition forms that contained perjury and false attestations. The lawsuit says this appears to be the result of paid circulators outsourcing petition-gathering responsibilities to unregistered circulators and falsely searing that they witnessed electors signing these outsourced petitions.
- Petitions by fraud: The lawsuit says that investigators discovered some otherwise valid petitions forms were obtained via fraud. At least one subcontractor reportedly told circulators to tell prospective signatories that the petition was to “keep the state of Florida from taking away women’s rights,” not necessarily that the petition was about “abortion.”
- Bulk identity theft: Per the lawsuit, investigators found that petition gatherers had engaged in “bulk identity theft” with circulators using publicly available personal identifying information to complete petition forms without electors’ consent. According to the plaintiffs, even election staff in the supervisor of elections offices in Martin and Osceola counties had their signatures forged on submitted petition forms.
As the lawsuit tells it, the OECS found that thousands of petitions were invalid. As a result, the lawsuit claims that only 833,521 petition forms pushing for Amendment 4 could actually be considered valid — nearly 60,000 short of the required amount.
“Without the substantial fraud and illegality in the petition-gathering process in support of Amendment 4, it never would have qualified for ballot placement,” the lawsuit reads.
WHAT’S NEXT FOR AMENDMENT 4?
While the case is underway, the amendment remains on the November ballot for Florida voters.
However, the lawsuit asks that Amendment 4 be removed — or declared invalid if a judgment comes after the General Election.
“If the amendment fails, I think that the FDLE will still continue to prosecute and find these people,” Orlando attorney John Stemberger told News 6.
On the other hand, if the amendment passes, Stemberger said that the plaintiffs would ask the court to prevent the amendment from being approved until the litigation plays out.
As a result, even if Amendment 4 is approved by voters, it could be months until it actually takes effect, Stemberger explained. And that’s not accounting for whether the court decides to invalidate it.
Regardless, you can stay up-to-date on the latest election news with ClickOrlando by clicking here.
The full lawsuit has been attached to this story and can be read below:
Complaint - Hoffman v Barton by Anthony Talcott on Scribd