{"id":113765,"date":"2024-10-13T18:46:47","date_gmt":"2024-10-13T11:46:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=113765"},"modified":"2024-10-13T18:46:47","modified_gmt":"2024-10-13T11:46:47","slug":"desantis-administration-report-alleges-fraud-in-florida-abortion-amendment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=113765","title":{"rendered":"DeSantis administration report alleges \u2018fraud\u2019 in Florida abortion amendment"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p class=\"\">Gov. Ron DeSantis\u2019 administration released an unprecedented report on Friday accusing the organizers behind Florida\u2019s abortion amendment of committing \u201cwidespread petition fraud\u201d in the drive to get the initiative on the ballot next month.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The unusual <a href=\"https:\/\/files.floridados.gov\/media\/708442\/oecs-interim-report-10-11-2024.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">348-page preliminary report<\/a> from the Florida secretary of state advocates for the state Legislature to change laws to crack down on future petition drives. And it could lay the groundwork for an attempt by the administration to disqualify or invalidate the amendment, which DeSantis has vowed to defeat.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The report alleges that organizers backing Amendment 4, which would overturn the state\u2019s six-week abortion ban, illegally paid circulators by the number of signatures collected.<b> <\/b>The report said that the state on Friday fined the organizers<b> <\/b>$328,000.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">State audits estimate that 16.4% of petitions across the state should never have been validated, the report states.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The report<b> <\/b>also includes sweeping generalizations about the petition drive without providing data to back them up.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Amendment 4 was sponsored by Floridians Protecting Freedom and groups including the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, which plans to contest the fine. The campaign director for Yes on 4, Lauren Brenzel, denied any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cThis campaign has been run above board and followed state law at every turn,\u201d Brenzel said in a statement. \u201cWhat we are seeing now is nothing more than dishonest distractions and desperate attempts to silence voters.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Brenzel noted that the state didn\u2019t challenge the signatures when it had a chance to in January.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The report, issued after Floridians started voting, is the latest example of the governor\u2019s use of state power to defeat Amendment 4, one of his top priorities this fall.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Last month, the state Agency for Health Care Administration <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tampabay.com\/news\/florida-politics\/2024\/09\/06\/florida-abortion-amendment-ahca-website-desantis\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">launched a website advocating against the amendment<\/a>, in possible violation of state law prohibiting state-sponsored electioneering. On Oct. 3, the general counsel for the state\u2019s Department of Health <a href=\"https:\/\/www.miamiherald.com\/news\/politics-government\/state-politics\/article293681554.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sent cease and desist letters to Tampa and Gainesville television stations<\/a> threatening to take criminal action if the stations refused to take down a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=7jJiEE_AkPA\">political ad<\/a> supporting Amendment 4.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Since DeSantis and the Legislature created the Office of Election Crimes and Security office in 2022, it has never produced a report like the one released Friday, and critics questioned the timing of its release.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The report states that it was produced \u201cin advance of the upcoming legislative session\u201d to \u201csummarize its preliminary findings and reemphasize the need for more effective regulation of petition circulation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">It is addressed to DeSantis, Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples, and House Speaker Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The legislative session doesn\u2019t begin until March. And it won\u2019t be known which members of the Legislature will serve during that session until the November election. Renner won\u2019t be in the Legislature next year because of term limits, and Passidomo will no longer be president of the Senate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">State Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, said it\u2019s \u201cclear\u201d that the intention of the report was not to inform state lawmakers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cIt\u2019s an attempt to mislead and confuse voters about three weeks ahead of an election,\u201d Eskamani said. \u201cThey\u2019re sending the report to a lame-duck speaker and Senate president.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">In order to get on the ballot before voters next month, the backers of Amendment 4 had to collect nearly 900,000 verified signatures from registered voters and meet a required number in at least half of Florida\u2019s 28 congressional districts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Those petition drives have historically been riddled with examples of fraud, the report said. Circulators have illegally made up names or forged voters\u2019 signatures instead of doing the hard work of roaming parking lots and public spaces for legitimate endorsements.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">County elections supervisors collect the petition forms and match the voter\u2019s information and signature to what they have on file, and commonly toss out about 30% for various reasons, including potential<b> <\/b>fraud.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Critics have suspected that DeSantis\u2019 office<b> <\/b>has targeted the Amendment 4<b> <\/b>petition drive for political reasons. A 2021 drive financed by Las Vegas Sands \u2014 whose late founder, Sheldon Adelson, was a megadonor to DeSantis and Republicans \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tampabay.com\/news\/florida-politics\/2024\/09\/21\/critics-see-desantis-double-standard-florida-abortion-petition-case\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">had many more apparent signs of fraud. But that investigation fizzled<\/a> with only the lowest-level circulators being investigated, observers have noted.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Why the state<b> <\/b>has focused on<b> <\/b>Amendment 4 over other amendment<b> <\/b>efforts is not clear. The report says that supervisors referred \u201can unusually high volume of complaints\u201d to the state, but the report does not compare the volume of complaints to any other petition drive.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">It says \u201ca significant number of known or suspected fraudsters had petitions counted across the state,\u201d but also doesn\u2019t compare that to any other petition drive.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The report mentions unnamed subcontractors claiming that some circulators were being paid per signature, a third-degree felony, and one subcontractor advertising on social media that it would pay circulators per signature. The California-based company hired by the campaign, which has been behind several successful Florida petition drives since the 1990s, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tampabay.com\/news\/florida-politics\/2024\/09\/21\/critics-see-desantis-double-standard-florida-abortion-petition-case\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">has denied paying people per signature<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Four circulators working on behalf of the amendment have been arrested, some because<b> <\/b>either the campaign or elections supervisors alerted officials<b> <\/b>to concerns. Five circulators working on other petitions have also been arrested this year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The state\u2019s investigation included <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tampabay.com\/news\/florida-politics\/elections\/2024\/09\/06\/florida-abortion-amendment-petition-signature-fraud-voters\/\">knocking on voters\u2019 doors asking if they signed petitions<\/a> and requesting tens of thousands of petitions that supervisors had deemed valid. Elections supervisors said they couldn\u2019t recall the state <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tampabay.com\/news\/florida-politics\/2024\/09\/04\/florida-desantis-abortion-amendment-petition-signatures-fraud\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ever requesting validated petitions for a fraud investigation<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The state analyzed 13,445 validated petitions from Orange, Osceola and Palm Beach counties and found that at least \u201c2,849 should not have been validated due to statutory deficiencies or a clear mismatch between the signature on the petition and any signature on file,\u201d the report states.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The office projected that in six congressional districts, supervisors improperly validated between 11.7% and 23.6% of abortion petition signatures. Statewide, the rate could be 16.4%, the report suggested \u2014 which would have been<b> <\/b>enough to invalidate the amendment in four districts, according to a Times\/Herald analysis.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The report has no data comparing those rates with other petition drives.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cThe fraud outlined in this report is unacceptable, and it is imperative that the state consider major reforms to the initiative petition process to prevent groups from doing this ever again in Florida,\u201d the report states.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The report says the supervisors of Orange and Palm Beach counties \u201cfailed their statutory obligation to verify petition forms\u201d in accordance with state law.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Orange County Chief Elections Administrator Christopher Heath said the office was \u201caware of the report and is reviewing its findings.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">A spokesperson for<b> <\/b>Palm Beach County Supervisor Wendy Sartory Link did not respond to requests for comment<b> <\/b>on Saturday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1660802\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<script>(function(w,q){w[q]=w[q]||[];w[q].push([\"_mgc.load\"])})(window,\"_mgq\");\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tampabay.com\/news\/florida-politics\/2024\/10\/12\/florida-desantis-abortion-amendment-fraud-election-voting\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gov. Ron DeSantis\u2019 administration released an unprecedented report on Friday accusing the organizers behind Florida\u2019s abortion amendment of committing \u201cwidespread petition fraud\u201d in the drive to get the initiative on &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=113765\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8629],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-113765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-u-s","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=113765"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113765\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=113765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=113765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=113765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}