Someone in our Community is Circulating a Petition and has Threatened Anyone that Disagrees with him, What Can We do?


Note: The DearEsq free 'ask a lawyer' site is offered as a free informational service to the public and is not intended as legal advice. Laws vary from state-to-state, and in addition every situation is unique, and relevant facts may not be known. The answer to the question posed below may not apply to in your state or to your situation. For legal advice in your state and your situation you should consult with an attorney in your state who is familiar with the rules and laws in your state.

Question: We have an Individual that has published a petition in our community. This petition states that our elected officials have made statements that they have not. This individual also continues to threaten anyone that disagrees with him that they will be sued by him. Additionally the petition claims that by signing the petition individuals will be preserving a right to vote that is not allowed for under Florida statutes. Short of hiring a lawyer which is beyond our means what actions can be taken to stop this.

Answer: Free speech rights as guaranteed by the First Amendment generally give any idiot the right to circulate petitions without any requirement that the petition be truthful or based in fact. Unless the petition itself rises to the level of actionable defamation, there’s not much you can do except fight his bad speech with good, factual speech, perhaps by pointing out his problems to your local news media. With all that said, if he is making demonstrably false claims, or making promises that are inconsistent with the law, your local election officials may have a cause of action against him for some sort of fraud, or at minimum, may simply reject his petition as being invalid. In any case, the truth will eventually carry the day, so sticking to the high road may be the best course of action. Let the nutcase self-destruct on his own.