Lawyers accuse Florida officials of election rigging over abortion change

Florida state authorities face another lawsuit accusing them of election interference because they opposed a change in the law to expand abortion rights.

The Florida Supreme Court has agreed to expedite proceedings in a lawsuit filed Tuesday by Palm Beach County attorney Adam Richardson accusing Gov. Ron DeSantis, Agency for Health Care Administration Secretary Jason Weida and Attorney General Ashley Moody of misusing state resources to “taint the Amendment 4 vote.”

The ACLU of Florida announced on Wednesday that it plans to file its own lawsuit in the next few days.

The proposed constitutional amendment will appear on the November ballot. It asks voters whether abortions should be allowed in Florida until the fetus is viable, usually around 24 weeks, or until the patient's doctor deems it necessary. Currently, abortions are prohibited in Florida after the sixth week of pregnancy, with few exceptions.

“Repealing this ban is not a partisan issue. It's a health care issue,” said Lauren Brenzel, campaign director for Yes on 4, the group supporting the amendment. “Yet the administration is trying every dirty trick possible to distract Floridians from these facts.”

Brenzel joined attorneys from the ACLU of Florida at a press conference Wednesday morning to criticize Florida's abortion restrictions and discuss concerns about possible election interference by state officials.

At issue is a website and short video the AHCA produced about the six-week ban and Amendment 4. The website advises visitors to “don't let the fearmongers lie to you” and defends current abortion law in Florida, while claiming that the proposed amendment “threatens women's safety.”

The state health agency's actions appear to violate a Florida state law that prohibits government officials from abusing their authority or resources to influence elections, said Robyn Powell, assistant professor at Stetson University College of Law in Gulfport.

“In my opinion, this is a blatant example of a government agency actually trying to influence a vote one way or the other,” Powell said.

DeSantis denies any election interference

DeSantis has defended the website.

“You know, we have resources to make public service announcements on many different fronts — at the Department of Transportation, for example, on safe driving,” DeSantis said during an appearance in Miami Lakes on Monday. “The AHCA agency is using those resources to basically provide people with accurate information.”

When asked again about the issue during a press conference in Lake City on Tuesday, DeSantis said the AHCA's messaging prevented Amendment 4 supporters from “lying to people about Florida's laws.”

Brenzel has repeatedly stated that there are no “real” exceptions to the six-week ban, which state officials say is false. But she maintains that existing exceptions for rape, incest and protecting the life of the mother are too restrictive and still deny many women access to necessary care.

DeSantis and other state politicians who oppose the ballot measure say the wording is too vague and argue that lawmakers should pass the abortion law.

“It [Amendment 4] “It takes away the power of the people to decide through elections who they put in office and who makes laws and effectively hands that over to the courts. There will be 25 years of litigation about what those terms mean,” he said, referring to words like “viability” and “health” that appear in the vote summary.

The Florida Supreme Court has already ruled this year that the wording on the ballot is acceptable. Lawyers like Powell say the wording creates a similar framework to what Florida had before Roe v. Wade was repealed.

The AHCA website also contains other misleading statements about the potential impact of the change, Powell said.

“I don’t know what his [DeSantis’] “The definition of facts is correct, but that is not my definition. What we are seeing here is a form of fear-mongering,” Powell said.

The Supreme Court ordered the state officials named in Adam Richardson's election interference lawsuit to file a response to his allegations by September 23.

Stephanie Colombini

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WUSF Public Media

There are also hurdles to abortion in some other states

Meanwhile, the state is investigating whether people have fraudulently signed petitions to add Amendment 4. Some Floridians report that police officers have shown up at their homes to question them about the signatures they verified. DeSantis claims the state has found evidence that some petition signatures were not valid and said the state has “zero tolerance” for voter fraud.

The deadline set by state law to challenge the validity of signatures has long since passed, and Keisha Mulfort, senior communications strategist for the ACLU of Florida, said the campaign for the change has worked with “full transparency and integrity” throughout the process.

Mulfort called the state's investigation two months before the election an attempt to intimidate voters.

“We will not be distracted by these political games, and our priority remains clear: ensuring that abortion decisions are left to women in consultation with their doctors, who are sworn to act in the best interests of their patients,” Mulfort said, adding that the ACLU is working “around the clock” on its own legal challenge to the AHCA website to “ensure that Floridians have the tools they need to say 'yes' to Amendment 4.”

In the seven states where since the 20th century Dobbs Decision in 2022, Voters have consistently supported abortion rights, and another 10 states plan to put similar bills on their ballots this year, including eight with citizen-led initiatives like Florida.

Republican politicians in Missouri, Nebraska and South Dakota have also challenged their states' proposals in court.

“All of this is part of a larger problem,” Powell said. “Florida is not the only state where we are seeing this broader resistance. Every time abortion has been Dobbsthe right to abortion has been protected. So we know that anti-abortion activists are aware of this fact and are, in my opinion, deliberately trying to put up one roadblock after another.”

This is an “attack on democracy”, especially in the case of citizens’ initiatives, she said.

In Florida, the hurdle for passing ballot initiatives is higher than in many other states. At least 60% of voters must approve Amendment 4 for it to pass.