Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis' election crimes unit is alleging abortion activists have forged and paid for signatures in an effort to overturn the state's 6-week abortion restriction, detailing "initiative petitioning fraud."
Florida's Office of Election Crimes and Security (OECS), created by DeSantis two years ago amid concerns of election integrity issues after the 2020 presidential election, issued a 348-page report Friday alleging petitioners for a new amendment to unwind Florida's 6-week abortion restriction were being paid by several abortion activist groups.
"All should agree that there is no room for fraud when it comes to changing the Florida Constitution," the OECS letter summarizing the report concluded.
Among the alleged "known" or "suspected fraudsters" were Floridians Protecting Freedom and the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, which were co-sponsoring Amendment 4 and submitted over 900,000 signatures. The allegations were reportedly denied by the organizations and they planned to contest the Florida's OECS findings, The Hill reported.
"It has also become clear that a significant number of paid petition circulators used FPF were known by FPF's agents to be fraudsters before being utilized for petition gathering," the report alleged.
Yes for 4 Campaign Director Lauren Brenzel denied the allegations.
"This campaign has been run above board and followed state law at every turn," she said in a statement to the Tampa Bay Times. "What we are seeing now is nothing more than dishonest distractions and desperate attempts to silence voters."
Democrats support the abortion activists, calling out the DeSantis OECS for election and legislation meddling.
"It's an attempt to mislead and confuse voters about three weeks ahead of an election," state Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, told the Miami Herald. "They're sending the report to a lame-duck speaker and Senate president."