#Florida is reportedly š„sending police officers to the homes of people who signed a #petition supporting an #abortion #rights ballot #initiative.
Florida Governor #Ron #DeSantisās administration has begun āinvestigating thousands of verified signatures that helped to put a state constitutional amendment protecting the right to abortion on the ballot in November.
The amendment would overturn Floridaās current six-week abortion ban.
Petition organizers collected about 100,000 more signatures than they needed, surpassing the 900,000 that are required by the state and ensuring that their policy would be on the ballot.
Now the Department of Stateās spokesperson Ryan Ash claims that his agency has āuncovered evidence of illegal conduct with fraudulent petitions.ā
Supervisors in Hillsborough, Orange, Palm Beach, Osceola, Alachua, and Broward counties have been requested to gather around 36,000 signatures for state review, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
One supervisor with 16 years of experience told the Times that the stateās request was entirely unprecedented.
Not only had the state requested signatures that had already been verified, but they did so for a validated petition, not a rejected petition, which are typically the basis of fraud investigations.
https://newrepublic.com/post/185704/florida-police-state-abortion-ballot-initiative
Florida Goes Full Police State Over Abortion Ballot Initiative
One state representative has accused Governor Ron DeSantis of āclear voter intimidation and plain corruption.āThe New Republic