An investigation by the state into ballot petition fraud throughout Florida is reaching right into Palm Beach County.
In an email sent to supervisor of elections Wendy Sartory Link, the Department of State is asking to gather and review more than 17,000 signatures of petition circulators suspected of committing fraud.
The signatures are for the petition to get Amendment 4 — the abortion amendment— on the November ballot.
The amendment would protect abortion access and undo the state’s six-week abortion ban.
Link said the state’s inquiry is highly unusual and would take a significant amount of time to go through, estimating more than 140 hours. But she said the state is working with her office and recognizing they are preparing for the general election.
"When we receive petitions, our staff — who have all taken a signature verification course — they go through and review the signatures to make sure that the voter is, in fact, a registered voter, they live in the district that it says they live in, and that the signature matches," Link said. "So they go through and look at a few different things."
