At Capitol Hill hearing, Cord Byrd defends probe of potential signature petition fraud

Screenshot of Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd in U.S. House Administration Committee on Sept. 11, 2024.Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd on Wednesday defended a statewide investigation into potentially fraudulent signatures used on petitions to help put an abortion rights state constitutional amendment on the November ballot.

Testifying as one of six election officials in a hearing held by the House Administration Committee in Washington, Byrd was asked by Hillsborough County Republican U.S. Rep. Laurel Lee to explain why it was harmful to both the public and the elections process if fraud takes place during the petition-gathering process.

“Those initiative petitions change or have the potential to change our state constitution,” he told Lee, whom Byrd succeeded as Florida’s Secretary of State after being appointed by DeSantis in May 2022.

“If they pass, they enshrine it in state law. There are organizations and businesses that send people out of state into the states, pay them to gather signatures. We have victims of felony identity theft. They have come and reported that to us that their signature has been put — their identity has been stolen, their signature has been placed on a signature petition.

“We have a duty and obligation to investigate and provide relief to those victims, but also most of the reports of election fraud in Florida are reported by the county election officials. It is happening and it is our duty under the law to investigate.”

The Tampa Bay Times reported last week that the Department of State has asked supervisors of elections in at least six counties to collect approximately 36,000 signatures for the state to review. There have also been reports of state police showing up at voters’ homes to question them about whether they signed the petition to put Amendment 4 on the ballot.

The Times reported that signatures involved in the probe have been validated by county election supervisors and that the deadline to challenge the validity of signatures has already passed.

If approved, the measure would enshrine abortion rights into the Florida Constitution, but it is bitterly opposed by DeSantis and the Republican Party of Florida. A state agency has posted at taxpayer expense a website attacking the amendment, drawing a lawsuit alleging election interference.

Screenshot of Florida GOP Congresswoman Laurel Lee at House Administration Committee hearing on Sept. 11, 2024

Election police

Lee, who served as Florida’s Secretary of State from 2019 to 2022, also asked Byrd about the state’s Office of Election Crimes and Security, a state police force created in 2022 to ferret out voter fraud.

“I think it’s really important to note that people think when they think of election fraud they think of the presidential race,” Byrd said.

“Election fraud includes campaign finance violations, voter registration fraud, initiative petition fraud, candidate qualifying fraud. We investigate all of those, and for all of the people who say that there is no evidence of non-citizens voting, come to Florida, we have the evidence, because my office is required to report it to the governor and the Legislature every year.”

Lee asked a series of leading questions to Byrd in an attempt to debunk some conspiracy theories raised by “voting integrity” activists in Florida.

“While voting is going on during elections, or those voting systems ever connected to the internet?” she asked. Byrd said they were not connected to the internet, causing her to follow-up.

“In other words, Secretary Byrd, is it possible to hack a voting system during an election?”

“No, it is not,” he replied.

In addition to Byrd, the secretaries of state from Ohio, Arizona, Michigan, West Virginia, and New Mexico participated in the hearing.