Florida voters filed a lawsuit to invalidate Amendment 4, an extreme and deceptive abortion amendment, after ongoing state criminal investigations have revealed high rates of fraudulent signatures were used across the state to help place the amendment on the November ballot. The pro-abortion group Floridians Protecting Freedom (FPF), backed by Planned Parenthood and the ACLU, sponsored the amendment and submitted 997,035 signatures, which was 11.8 percent more than required. However, the lawsuit uses data from state signature audits to claim that up to 16.4 percent of the signatures are fraudulent which would drop the number of valid signatures below the minimum threshold to legally be on the ballot.
According to an interim report by the Florida Office of Election Crimes and Security (OECS), preliminary audits in three counties revealed signatures were “submitted by known or suspected fraudsters,” of which an average of 25.4 percent of those signatures were invalid. In Palm Beach County alone, the invalidity rate was 36.6 percent but went as high as 49 percent when counting both invalid and questionable signatures. In Orange County, 32.3 percent of the signatures were fraudulent and in Osceola County 7.4 percent of the signatures were fraudulent with more listed as questionable. In these counties, election supervisors “mistakenly verified” at least 2,849 invalid signatures from disreputable sources.
Taking all available preliminary data into account, the OECS stated they found an average 16.4 percent invalidity rate among previously verified signatures. This particular invalidity rate matters when it comes to the state’s congressional districts. State law requires that before constitutional amendments can be placed on the ballot, proponents must obtain signatures from registered voters equaling at least eight percent of the total ballots cast in the last general election and account for eight percent of the voters in at least half of the congressional districts. The three counties audited so far make up portions of six congressional districts with the other portions made up of counties not yet fully audited. The lawsuit contends that applying the 16.4 percent invalidity rate across these congressional districts, the actual number of valid signatures would fall below the minimum 8 percent threshold for many districts.
For instance, the OECS reports that Florida’s Congressional District 9 (CD9), which includes all of Osceola County, a portion of Orange County, and a portion of the yet to be audited Polk County, is projected to have more than 3,500 invalid signatures. In CD9, proponents of Amendment 4 needed to meet a minimum signature threshold of 27,460 signatures. While officials had validated 30,378 total signatures, the number of projected invalid signatures drops the valid signature count below CD9’s minimum threshold. By applying the average invalidity rate to all congressional districts, the lawsuit suggests the actual number of valid signatures would drop below the state’s required threshold of 891,523 signatures to 833,521. The deficit demonstrates Amendment 4 should have failed to qualify for the ballot.
The lawsuit was filed by four Florida voters seeking to protect the state’s constitutional amendment process. Former Florida Supreme Court Justice Alan Lawson represents the voters. While it is unlikely the lawsuit will yield any results prior to election day on November 5, Justice Lawson, has indicated that state precedent shows if Amendment 4 passed the popular vote it could be invalidated later for illegal ballot placement.
The lawsuit, filed in Florida’s Ninth Judicial Circuit in Orange County, named Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd, as well as 21 of the state’s Supervisors of Elections, as defendants. The plaintiffs noted these state officials are named as defendants not because of any wrongdoing but rather to give the Circuit Court jurisdiction to act in this case and for their ability to investigate and invalidate the ballot petitions. However, the suit also names FPF as a defendant and alleges it employed “known fraudsters” as paid signature gatherers who engaged in “bulk identity theft.” The plaintiffs cite state’s evidence that shows petitions were signed on behalf of dead people, contained forged signatures, used personal identifying information without voter consent, contained perjury and false swearing to witnessing signatures, and/or were collected on an illegal pay-per-signature basis.
On Tuesday, November 5, 2024, Florida voters will have a chance to reject or ratify Amendment 4, which is titled “Amendment to Limit Government Interference with Abortion.” Amending the state’s constitution requires approval by a 60 percent majority.
Amendment 4 reads: “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.”
Amendment 4 would make abortion a constitutional right in Florida up to birth, at any time, for any reason. If passed, the misleading amendment would then nullify every abortion law, including parental consent, informed consent, the requirement for the abortionist to be a licensed medical doctor, health and safety laws, and much more. The only law that will survive is parental notification, which means nothing.
Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver stated, “Fraud undermines the right to vote and turns the election process into a third-world corrupt system. The constitutional amendment process must be free of fraud and deception, especially when it comes to the extreme and deceptive Amendment 4. Floridians deserve an honest and legal ballot process.”
