This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
An organization that promoted an abortion amendment for Florida's constitution, a campaign that failed, has been fined more than $186,000 after a multitude of complaints alleging fraud in its work.
A report from CBN explains a recent memo from Florida Deputy Secretary of State for Legal Affairs and Election Integrity Brad McVay revealed the issues involved "reports of paid FPF petition circulators signing petitions on behalf of deceased individuals, forging or misrepresenting elector signatures on petitions, using electors' personal identifying information without consent, and perjury/false swearing."
The organization is "Floridians Protecting Freedom," a pro-abortion organization that submitted signatures for a petition to put on the election ballot the constitutional change.
The report noted multiple FPF petition circulators were arrested and charged with felonies over the last year. And evern now more than 100 criminal investigations are continuing.
The failed proposal would have created a constitutional "right" to abortion before viability or any time someone said it was "necessary to protect the patient's health."
"The (state) report details how the group enlisted PCI Consultants, a California-based corporation, and paid them $27 million in 2023 and 2024 to collect and submit Florida signatures," CBN documented. "PCI is accused of using 'unregistered out-of-state entities' and unlawfully paying signature gatherers per signature."
While some petition signatures were rejected, actually "a large number of signatures were 'mistakenly validated' and counted," the report said.
In fact, in some districts, audits showed more than 25% of signatures were submitted by "known or suspected fraudsters."
Each fraudulent signature would mean a case of felony election fraud.
The fine was the result of a settlement agreement.
The state report said, "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."
Liberty Counsel chief Mat Staver commented on the investigation stating, "Election fraud is reprehensible and undermines every citizen's right to vote. The fines and penalties against Floridians Protecting Freedom may not go far enough to prevent groups from doing the same thing again in Florida. Strong laws and enforcement are the best defense against fraud. Floridians deserve an honest and legal ballot process."
