By now you’ve likely read details of the project of intimidation underway in Florida as voters in the state try to place a measure to protect abortion on November’s ballot. The Tampa Bay Times and other local news outlets have reported in recent days that police have been going to the homes of Florida residents who signed a petition to help get Amendment 4 on the ballot and questioning individuals about their signatures. Big picture, it looks as if Gov. Ron DeSantis has come up with a new, creatively frightening way to turn Florida into a police state.
Residents who were questioned have posted on social media or spoken to news outlets about the experience, saying the plain clothes police officers asked for verification that the resident signed the petition, claiming they’re investigating potential signature fraud. Some residents have claimed that the police went as far as asking for their identification or driver’s license to confirm signatures.
In the last two weeks, at least six county elections supervisors in Florida have received word from the Florida Department of State requesting copies of tens of thousands of the petitions that were signed in support of getting the measure on the ballot, the Miami Herald reported.
Democratic state lawmakers, voting rights activists and the group behind Amendment 4 — which, if approved by voters this fall would codify abortion access into the constitution in a state where abortion is banned after six weeks — are outraged by these developments, as DeSantis seemingly deploys state resources in service of defeating a ballot proposal that goes against his administration’s policy agenda. The group behind the Amendment 4 drive collected over one million verified signatures to get the measure on the ballot, according to the Miami Herald.
“These are petitions that were already approved, that were done properly,” Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) told reporters on Monday. “This police intimidation tactic is clearly intended to chill the democratic process.”
“This is unhinged and undemocratic behavior being pushed by Governor Ron DeSantis in an effort to continue our state’s near total abortion ban,” Florida state Rep. Anna Eskamani posted on Facebook Friday. “It’s clear voter intimidation and plain corruption — continue to call it out and fight back.”
The Tampa Bay Time has a good rundown of the details of all the encounters that have been reported thus far here.
It’s a bleak story that only gets worse from here: Local news outlets have started to report that the law enforcement officers who have been conducting the questioning of individual voters are members of the DeSantis administration’s election police force, which carried out arrests for the state’s supposed election crimes task force in the wake of the 2020 election.
You’ll recall TPM covered the made-for-tv announcement of the arrests and the fallout when DeSantis failed to net prosecutions against nearly all of the 20 previously incarcerated individuals his election police arrested for accidentally voting. Here’s a good rundown of the aftermath of that large scale political stunt, which did little beyond ruin the 20 formerly incarcerated people’s livelihoods and give DeSantis talking points for his 2024 bid.
Speaking to reporters in Miami Lakes on Monday, DeSantis defended his election police questioning those who supported getting Amendment 4 on the ballot, claiming, without evidence, that there were issues with some of the signatures and that some had been turned in on “behalf of dead people.”
“It may be that the signature is totally different, and that voter will say, ‘No, I actually did do that,’” DeSantis said. “Maybe they signed their name. That is absolutely possible. And if that’s what you say, I think that’s probably the end of it.”
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First!
Bootsy Collins and his personal star on the walk of fame.
There is nothing more terrifying than police showing up at your door. This is voter intimidation, and it is evil.
Time was, sending out cops to interfere in the exercises of the First Amendment right to petition would have resulted in a federal injunction and a Section 1983 action. You know, what with it being a fundamental right subject to the strict scrutiny standard and the requirement to show both a compelling governmental interest and that the least restrictive means possible are being used in pursuit of that interest.
“How do you like living in the free state of Florida?”
What an absolute menace.
Florida Announces 'Free State of Florida' Placed on All Welcome Signs.
The clear implication being the state can decide that is not the end of it any time DeSantis or one of his brown-shirts wish; nice weasel-wording there.