Supporters of the Florida Constitutional Amendment 4 ballot initiative that will appear before voters in the November 5 election claim there are attempts to tamper with the referendum.
Florida Rising, which supports the amendment referendum that would limit government restrictions on abortion in Florida, say there is a "misinformation" attempt to distort the Financial Impact Estimating Conference (FIEC).
The FIEC meets in Tallahassee Monday to draft a third version of the financial impact statement for the proposed amendment placed on the ballot following a petition drive that garnered hundreds of thousands of signatures of registered voters in Florida. The state currently has a ban on the procedure after six weeks of pregnancy, with an exception for 15 weeks for pregnancies caused by rape, incest or if there is a threat to the mother's life.
"On June 5, a circuit court found that the FIEC's initial statement was unlawfully inaccurate, ambiguous, unclear, and confusing. Despite appealing this decision, arguing that no court can review such ballot statements, the state has reconvened the FIEC to revise the statement. During these meetings, political appointees and out-of-state actors are resisting the FIEC's intended purpose of technical, neutral analysis," a Florida Rising news release said.
The FIEC is supposed to take a nonpartisan approach to estimating financial ramifications of constitutional amendments in Florida. Gov. Ron DeSantis and many of his supporters have opposed the referendum arguing for a strict ban on procedures for women who become pregnant.
Ivanna Gonzales, director of campaigns at Florida Rising, said the FIEC is being warped by operatives in Tallahassee.
"The FIEC has been hijacked by political operatives and out-of-state anti-abortion advocates aiming to spread misinformation about Amendment 4, turning what should be a neutral administrative process into a political circus driven by extremism. The replacement of longtime professional economists with new appointees — Heritage Foundation Senior Research Fellow Rachel Greszler and political operative Chris Spencer — has led to speculative discussions that do not align with the FIEC's purpose," Gonzales said in a prepared statement.
Despite Republican opposition to the proposed constitutional amendment, the movement supporting the referendum has continued to garner more financial support. In June, the campaign supporting the ballot initiative had raised more the $12 million in two months.
In a related issue, Vice President Kamala Harris was supposed to moderate a panel discussion in Florida that was going to cover the topic of abortion. The news website Politico reported Sunday that Harris was postponing her visit to the event scheduled to take place Tuesday in Palm Beach County.
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