Leave It Up to the States; No, Not the *People* in the States!

Florida is one of a number of states that will have a referendum on abortion rights this November, brought to the ballot by the Sunshine State's defined citizen petition process. In the past few days, what I would describe as Ron DeSantis's jackboots have been investigating petition signers for "fraud."

A state resident named Isaac Menasche wrote this on Twitter:

A detective investigating petition fraud (people forging other people's signatures on petitions - there is such a thing?) just left my home. I had indeed signed a petition seeking to have the right to an abortion placed on the ballot in Florida. I remembered doing so and the circumstances surrounding it. (Don't usually sign petitions.) The experience left me shaken. What troubled me was he had a folder on me containing my personal information - about 10 pages. I saw a copy of my drivers license and copy of the petition I signed. It was obvious to me that a significant effort was exerted to determine if indeed I had signed the petition. Troubling that so much resources were devoted to this. I wonder if the same could be said if the petition were for some innocuous issue.

His words were shown in a screenshot shared by writer Jessica Valenti, among others. His account is now private or deleted... I wonder why. But he's also quoted in a Tampa Bay Times story.

The deadline to challenge the validity of signatures had long passed by the time they did this, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

These actions were carried out by the so-called Election Crimes and Security department that DeSantis used to harass and arrest Black voters in 2022.

Meanwhile, Missouri Republican officials are in the midst of trying to throw that state's referendum off the ballot with legal maneuvers. A judge who's Rush Limbaugh's cousin (!) ruled some part of the wording invalid, and now the secretary of state (another Ashcroft, believe it or not) has decertified the proposed amendment and pulled it from the ballot, even though the question is still being adjudicated.

"Leave the question of abortion to the states" indeed. Not that this was ever what they intended, but they can't even figure out a way to be subtle about it. "The state" is supposed to mean a Republican-controlled state legislature, not the people of the state, I guess — if it was ever anything other than an Alito smokescreen.