Jacob Ogles
An organization opposed to the proposed ‘Energy Choice’ amendment want Florida elections officials tossing out petitions.
Floridians For Truth accused the Citizens for Energy Choice organization of gathering signatures under pretenses after misleading voters.
“The Court has found in Hatten v. State that if a voter’s signature was obtained through fraud, then the signature is invalid,” said Floridians For Truth chair Kristopher Guzman.
“The number of instances and examples in which petition gatherers failed to give electors the truth about the risks, duties and obligations involved in 18-10 are so obvious that the Secretary of State should have no alternative but to grant our request.”
Citizens for Energy Choice has submitted 624,104 petition signatures deemed valid by the state, more than 80% of what’s needed to qualify for the ballot.
But the opposing group said it has collected thousands of petitions from voters actually asking for their signatures to be revoked. Floridians For Truth sent accounts of voters detailing specific instances of “deception and fraud.”
“Thousands of Florida voters were deceived into signing the petition by the signature collectors and told that the petition would allow them to choose who to purchase electricity from,” reads a letter sent to Florida Secretary of State Laurel Lee.
“The reality is far different. The plain truth is that if passed the amendment would drastically change the way electricity that every Floridian needs is produced. Over 85% of Floridians would be mandated to change their electricity provider no matter if they are completely satisfied with their service.”
Furthermore, the critics said forces behind the amendment have misled voters with campaign material.
“The amendment sponsors are claiming that ‘Electricity choice means lower rates, more jobs and more renewable energy,’” the letter continues. “Each of these claims is easily proven as being false and misleading, and thousands of voters who signed the Energy Choice petition agree that they were tricked by these false claims.”
In order to get on the 2020 general election ballot, amendment backers must gather the required number of signatures by Feb. 1.
“The Energy Choice petition, its agents and its key billionaire backer, Rich Blaser, have committed themselves to a campaign of lies in order to perpetrate the whole scale destruction of reliable and affordable energy in Florida,” Guzman said.
“Their campaign is replete with numerous instances of fraud and deceptions and our request is designed to protect Florida’s voters and Constitution. We are prepared to file a lawsuit should the Secretary of State deny our request.”
2 comments
Mike Collins
January 5, 2020 at 8:16 am
Incomplete reporting or poor editing — or both? Tell us who is behind each of these groups. Who is opposing energy choice?
Dave J
January 9, 2020 at 7:37 am
Having just moved down here from Pennsylvania, which permits customers to choose their electricity supplier (not the distribution company, which remains the same, but from where your electricity actually generates), I am very surprised to see that Florida is still in the Dark Ages (pun intended) of energy competition. I just received my first bill from Duke Energy and was blown away by how much the kWh rate was, which then prompted my research into reviewing the available options for suppliers.
This article did help in clarifying the current status of choice in Florida, but again, the fact that such opposition (which we all know is the electric companies) exists and has a supposed customer-backing is shocking to say the least. Demand better, Florida, you deserve it.
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