The Seminole Tribe is accusing Florida Voters in Charge of committing fraud and violating electoral law during its signature-gathering efforts aimed at allowing commercial casinos in Florida. According to the tribe, any expansion of gaming outside of its control requires a constitutional amendment, which must gain 891,589 signatures to qualify for the ballot in the 2022 election.
The dispute escalated as both sides engaged in a legal battle, with Florida Voters in Charge alleging that Seminole representatives attempted to interfere with their petition drive, including efforts to recruit petitioners from their ranks. As this case continues, the Tribe's political committee, Standing Up For Florida, rejected the majority of Florida Voters in Charge’s allegations, asserting that its actions were justifiable due to the pro-expansion group's purported conduct.
This week, the Tribe's political committee issued a counterclaim, asserting that it was actually the Las Vegas Sands-backed Florida Voters in Charge that operated illegally. “The FVC-PAC’s hired professional petition gatherers are brazenly violating Florida election law and not only submitting illegally-obtained petitions to various supervisors of elections, but now seek to use this court to restrict free speech and competitive labor hiring on the basis of illegal and unenforceable employment relationships,” the claim stated.
The counterclaim outlines agreements between Florida Voters in Charge and contractors that compensated them based on the number of signatures collected, including one with GPD that specified a payment of $450,000 for every 25,000 valid signatures submitted. Another contractor, Grassfire, reportedly paid its employees according to the number of signatures they collected, illustrated by a pay structure on its website.
According to Florida Statute 104.186, compensating petition circulators based on the volume of signatures collected is classified as a first-degree misdemeanor. The Tribe's committee argued that this compensation model invalidates not just the employment contracts but also any petitions gathered under such terms.
Standing Up For Florida went on to allege that Florida Voters in Charge engaged in serious misconduct, including shredding petitions, improperly completing information on petitions, and forging signatures, some of which allegedly belonged to election supervisors. The counterclaim referenced photographs purportedly showing buckets used by Grassfire for sorting petitions, with one clearly marked “trash.”
“These petitions were shredded in Grassfire's office, where it is believed there are cameras,” the counterclaim asserted.
In light of these allegations, Standing Up For Florida is seeking injunctive relief to deem Florida Voters in Charge’s signatures void. This legal situation surrounding gaming expansion has become central to another ongoing dispute in Florida related to sports betting. Last year, the Seminole Tribe secured the right to offer statewide online sports betting following a new compact. However, following a lawsuit from a pari-mutuel operator, mobile betting on non-tribal lands was ruled in violation of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, leading to the shutdown of the Tribe’s Hard Rock Sportsbook.
