DeSantis Making Shady ‘Review’ Of Abortion Petition Signatures
It sure looks like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is trying to sabotage a legit abortion-rights protection amendment on the state’s ballot in November.
The Tampa Bay Times has the deets on DeSantis’ latest sliminess:
In a move that supporters of the amendment fear could be “political interference,” Gov. Ron DeSantis’ deputy secretary of state has asked supervisors in Hillsborough, Orange, Palm Beach and Osceola counties to gather roughly 36,000 signatures for the state to review.
The signatures were among the nearly 1 million collected — and verified by local supervisors as belonging to real Floridians — to permit Amendment 4 to appear before voters in November. The amendment would protect abortion access and undo the state’s six-week abortion ban that DeSantis championed.
Whether the request could be used to challenge the amendment or strike it from the ballot is not clear. A deadline in state law to challenge the validity of the signatures has long passed.
The Times further reports that defeating the amendment is a “top priority” for DeSantis.