DeSantis’ Dirty Tricks Pay Off as Florida Abortion Measure Fails

The winning streak has come to an end. For the first time since the Supreme Court ended a federal right to abortion in 2022, voters have rejected a ballot measure seeking to enshrine the right to an abortion in a state constitution — even as a solid majority of Floridians voted to approve the measure. 

It was always going to be a tall order: Florida requires at least 60 percent support for proposals amending the state constitution — the highest threshold for any measure that has gone before voters in the last two years. With 86 percent of the vote in, Amendment 4 had received support from 57 percent of voters, while 43 percent voted against.

Beyond the practical challenges, organizers were also forced to contend with an unprecedented state-sponsored campaign to defeat the measure. 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis expended huge amounts of effort and political capital in an effort to tank the measure, after signing back-to-back bans into law restricting abortion — first at 15 weeks, and later at six weeks. DeSantis threw the full weight of the state government into a campaign to ensure the ballot measure went down in defeat. 

His state agencies spent millions of dollars in public money on TV and radio ads peddling misinformation about the measure, and the state also put up a website that claims Amendment 4 “threatens women’s safety.” DeSantis and the Heritage Foundation teamed up to add misleading language — ostensibly a “financial impact statement” — to the ballot measure claiming the amendment “would result in significantly more abortions and fewer live births per year in Florida” and that this “may negatively affect the growth of state and local revenues over time.”

DeSantis sent his election goon squad to knock on the doors of Florida voters who signed petitions supporting the amendment, then, just a few weeks before the election, his Office of Election Crimes and Security issued a report accusing organizers of submitting a “large number of forged signatures or fraudulent petitions” — months after organizers paid the state of Florida to validate those signatures. 
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His office ordered a Health Department lawyer to send cease-and-desist letters to TV stations airing ads in support of Amendment 4, threatening them with criminal penalties. (The lawyer resigned in protest when he was asked to send additional letters.) His administration’s Faith and Community Initiative has promoted the opposition’s bus tour on official channels. 

Shortly after officials began reporting election results, DeSantis posted on X: “With polls now closed in Florida — Amendment 3 has failed. Amendment 4 has failed.”