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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAnti-Abortion Activists Are Posing as Government Officials in South Dakota to Spread Ballot Measure Disinfo
On Monday, Amy Scott-Stoltz, president of the South Dakota League of Women Voters, received a phone call from someone who said they worked for the South Dakota Petition Integrity Committee and had gotten her information from the state secretary of states office. The caller asked Scott-Stoltz about her decision to sign a petition in support of a ballot measure that would enshrine a right to abortion through the first trimester in the state constitution.
Getting a call like that in the middle of the day, I was a bit confused, Scott-Stoltz told Jezebel. She couldnt find information on the committee on the secretary of states website and ended the call. But later that day she learned the South Dakota Petition Integrity Committee is a new anti-abortion group campaigning against the ballot measure that is run by Republican state Rep. Jon Hansen, whos also co-chair of the anti-abortion Life Defense Fund. Despite its official-sounding name, the group isnt a government entity. Its volunteers have been calling voters who have signed their names in support of the measure, and have been insinuating that they work with the secretary of states office. The timing is not accidental: Earlier this month, 55,000 signatures were submitted to get the measure on the November ballot (nearly twice the required amount). And the goal is clear: Confuseor intimidatethese abortion rights supporters so that they rescind their support.
Also on Monday, Secretary of State Monae Johnsons office warned that a shady group was indeed calling individuals who signed in support of the measure. Scammers are pushing the voters to challenge the Abortion Rights ballot measure petitions, Johnson, a Republican, said in a statement. Her office also said its working with law enforcement to investigate the claims.
South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley (R) on Tuesday said his office had concluded that there is no evidence of criminal wrongdoing after reviewing complaints and scripts used by the volunteers. Hansen also denied to KELOLAND, a local news outlet, that volunteers with his group are falsely claiming to work for the secretary of states office; he said they are simply investigating whether voters who had signed the petition were coerced to do so under false premises: Life Defense Fund has announced that we will be challenging the legal validity of the signatures obtained on the abortion amendment, he said in an email to KELOLAND.
https://www.jezebel.com/anti-abortion-activists-posing-government-officials-south-dakota-to-spread-ballot-measure-disinfo
Marthe48
(17,237 posts)cheating, misdirecting and threatening.