Late Friday, the Florida Department of State’s office released a report alleging fraud relating to petition circulation and collection for the abortion rights measure that will be Amendment 4 on this fall’s ballot in the state.

Although the report presented itself as discussing the office’s plans to back “legislative proposals and additional criminal referrals,” it quickly sparked concerns about how Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis — strongly opposed to the abortion measure — might seek to use it to stop the abortion measure itself.

Unlike in many states, the Florida secretary of state is an appointed position. Cory Byrd, the current secretary of state, is a former Republican lawmaker appointed to the role by DeSantis in 2022. Byrd’s deputy, Brad McVay, issued the interim report.

McVay, the deputy secretary of state for legal affairs and election integrity, wrote that the Office of Election Crimes and Security began investigations after the office was “inundated” by complaints relating to “Floridians Protecting Freedom, Inc. ("FPF") and its agents” — the group behind Amendment 4.

This report — first posted by E.W. Scripps’s Forrest Saunders — came more than six months after the Florida Supreme Court ruled that the initiative measure will be on the fall’s ballot, and McVay’s language is technically framed around “the adequacy of current law in addressing initiative petition fraud.”

The report itself is only 19 pages — detailing investigations of the “compensation scheme” used to pay some paid circulators, alleged fraud by circulators, and the delivery of petitions. Although the report sought to suggest a careful, objective analysis, it also used language suggesting an underlying political aim. Despite the fact that the office is only responsibly for investigating and not prosecuting matters, the report continually used the phrase “suspected fraudsters” — 19 times in the 19-page report, plus once in McVay’s introduction.

The report discussed prosecutions that have already happened, referrals for prosecution made by the office, and ongoing investigative efforts. It also detailed an “audit” of verified petitions in some counties, concluding that thousands of verified petitions were improperly validated. Notably, in that section, the report purported to extrapolate the limited audit to draw broader conclusions about how many petitions submitted could be invalid in multiple congressional districts in the state.

“These county figures, while based on a small sample size and subject to change with additional data, allow for extrapolation of invalidity rates by United States congressional district (CD),” the report stated. This is relevant because, in addition to a number of total signatures required to be collected for a Florida initiative, a certain number of signatures must be gathered from each of a majority of the congressional districts in the state.

The report concludes by stating, “The 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.”¹

Despite that, which could itself be very concerning, multiple sources in Florida have expressed concern to Law Dork since it was released about the timing and potential use of this report.

Under Florida law for initiatives, there is a provision authorizing the secretary of state to refer “a person or entity” to the attorney general for enforcement if the secretary “reasonably believes” that the person or entity “has committed a violation“ of the initiative process section.

Although generally used for the type of referrals that the report details for individual prosecutions where wrongdoing is alleged, the concern is whether DeSantis will attempt to argue that these findings could justify broader relief that could affect the validity of the amendment altogether.

The language of the last sentence of the statute is both broad and vague, authorizing “a permanent or temporary injunction, a restraining order, or any other appropriate order.”

In a tweet on X, formerly Twitter, about the report, Florida Rep. Anna Eskamani quoted Saunders’s tweet about the report and warned that DeSantis was “releasing late night reports, threatening to cancel our votes.“

Any effort to stop the counting of the amendment’s votes now would be a dramatic expansion of the use of that statute, but it would also not be out of ordinary for DeSantis to attempt such a move. DeSantis has made anti-democratic efforts a mainstay of his governorship — like ousting elected officials from office because he dislikes their policies, a move all but blessed by Florida’s Supreme Court.

It wouldn’t even be unusual for the DeSantis administration’s methods of fighting Amendment 4, which have included using state resources to oppose the amendment — a challenge to that effort was rejected by the Florida Supreme Court on October 10 — and threatening TV stations with legal action for airing pro-Amendment 4 ads.

It is not yet clear how this report will be used or whether DeSantis will seek an extreme remedy. The history of DeSantis’s anti-democratic actions, however, justify focusing attention on the possibility.

This is a developing news story. Please check back at Law Dork for the latest. And, if you have any information about this report and how it might be used, reach out to Law Dork.

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