Amendment 4 Should Have Never Made It on to Florida’s Ballot in the First Place: Here’s Why

By John Stemberger

Imagine a new house with seemingly solid construction and exterior, but a closer look reveals a totally rotten base, inherent structural flaws, and complete instability. No amount of beautiful landscaping or renovations can make up for a base that’s inherently flawed, and in time, the whole structure is bound to fail. 

This is like Amendment 4. It looks “reasonable” to many voters. However, not only is the wording deceptive, but the process that got it on to the ballot was illegal and fraudulent. On top of that, it would enshrine into state law unrestricted abortion due to the amendment’s loopholes, vague wording, and lack of definitions. 

From a bombshell lawsuit filed days ago, we now know that paid signature gatherers swept the state of Florida and scooped up tens of thousands of fraudulent signatures to catapult Amendment 4 on to the ballot. We’re talking fake people, forged signatures, illegally obtained signatures and otherwise invalid signatures employing signature mercenaries, committing perjury, and leveraging bulk identity theft — all in violation of Florida law. 

No small irregularity or human error, this was criminal activity. So far, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement has made four arrests. 

Filed in Florida’s Ninth Judicial Circuit, the lawsuit alleges that Floridians Protecting Freedom (FPF) paid a California-based company over $27 million for petition-related activities. The lawsuit states: “When all fictitious, forged, illegally obtained, or otherwise invalid signatures are removed from consideration, Amendment 4 failed to reach the constitutionally required number of signatures for ballot placement.”  

The report from the Florida Office of Election Crimes and Security’s investigation into this campaign fraud points to at least 35 paid signature gatherers who submitted nearly tens of thousands of petitions with suspected signature forgeries.   

Amendment 4’s sponsor, FPF, submitted 997,035 signatures to secure its spot on the ballot, 11.8% more than signature requirement. The state report showed that up to 16.4% of the signatures were fraudulent, dropping the number of valid signatures below the threshold needed for the ballot. 

The report also found the signature invalidity rate was 36.6% in Palm Beach County but went up to 49% when counting both invalid and questionable signatures. In Orange County, 32.3% or more of the signatures were fraudulent. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. 

Relying on Florida case law that holds widespread fraud cannot be cured with a popular vote, this lawsuit could invalidate the abortion-until-birth amendment on the ballot even if it passes with a popular vote making the amendment null and void, preventing the amendment from ever making it off the ballot and into law.   

Floridians deserve transparency and a legal electoral process –– down to the legality of the amendments on the ballot –– to ensure that elections are constitutionally legitimate. If Amendment 4’s placement on the ballot was invalid to begin with (as the data indicates), then even if passed, it cannot legally be ratified in the state constitution. 

If the amendment’s deceptive ballot language and violation of the single subject rule weren’t enough to keep the abortion amendment off the ballot (although they should have), the amendment should never have made it on the ballot due to its fraudulent signature campaign activity.  

As we approach the ballot box, we may feel we’re making a collective choice on firm ground. But when a proposal’s foundation is marred by fictitious signatures and fraudulent endorsements, it’s no better than that house built on sand. No matter how strong public support seems, an amendment based on falsehood cannot stand. Not to mention, it would wipe out virtually every pro-life protection, something many Floridians don’t realize due to its deceptive language. 

Let’s hope the lawsuit is enough to right the wrong of the abortion amendment. Either way, Floridians should just vote No on Amendment 4. 

For more from John Stemberger, click HERE.