Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday signed a bill to create a police force dedicated to prosecuting election fraud and other election crimes, with Republicans taking top priority after former President Donald Trump. false statements which robbed him of re-election.
The new law comes after the Republican governor focused voting legislation this year, pushing the Republican-controlled state house to create police unity as states reevaluate their own electoral systems in the wake of Trump’s baseless allegations.
DeSantis, who is running for re-election and is widely regarded as a potential candidate for the 2024 presidency, praised the last election as fluid and suggested more rules were needed to deter fraud, stressing Trump’s persistent influence in the election. Republican policy making. Critics have argued that the law is politically motivated and unnecessary, arguing that local prosecutors can handle election crimes.
At a law signing ceremony Monday at a sports bar in Spring Hill, Florida, DeSantis justified the need for the new law enforcement unit and suggested that existing law enforcement may not be equipped or willing. to thoroughly investigate cases of fraud.
“Some of them may not care so much about the election. I think it’s mixed up how these reactions will be. So we just want to make sure that it’s the laws in the books, that these laws are enforced.” , he said. dit.
Rebecca Blackwell / AP
Electoral fraud is rare, usually occurs in isolated cases and is usually detected. An Associated Press investigation into the 2020 presidential election found fewer than 475 potential cases of electoral fraud out of the 25.5 million votes cast in the six states where Trump and his allies disputed their loss to President Joe Biden .
Republicans across the country have stressed the need to restore public confidence in the election and have passed several voting laws in the past two years aimed at putting new rules around mail and early voting methods that were popular. in 2020.
The law creates an Office of Electoral Crimes and Security under the Florida State Department to review allegations of fraud and conduct preliminary investigations. DeSantis is to appoint a group of special officers from the Florida Law Enforcement Department who would be tasked with prosecuting violations of the election law.
Current state law allowed the governor to appoint officers to investigate violations of the electoral law, but did not require him to do so.
The law also increases the penalties for collecting completed ballots by a third party, often called ballot collection, to a crime. It raises fines for certain violations of the electoral law and requires election supervisors to maintain the voter list more frequently.
Democrats, the minority party in the state legislature, have criticized the bill as a way for DeSantis to appeal to Republican voters who believe the 2020 election results were fraudulent, while the governor flirts with a race own presidential.
“DeSantis ‘so-called electoral reform legislation is a continuing attack by the Republican Party to generate public distrust in the integrity of our elections. The bill is unnecessary and is a waste of taxpayers’ funds,” said Tracie Davis, Democrat.
In late March, a federal judge overturned part of a comprehensive election law passed last year in a strong ruling alleging that the Republican-dominated state government was suppressing black voters. and ordered that attempts to write similar new laws over the next decade should have been made. judicial approval.
U.S. District Judge Mark Walker overturned a provision in last year’s law that limited when people could use a mailbox to send their ballot, along with a section that prohibits anyone from commit to people waiting to vote. It also blocked a section that set new rules for groups that register voters, including one that requires people working to register voters to send their permanent names and addresses to the state.
The DeSantis administration is working to reverse Walker’s sentence.
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- Election Day
- Donald Trump
- Ron DeSantis
- Florida
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