Florida Senate Passes Voting Bill to Create Election Crimes Agency - The New York Times
By: Nick Corasaniti (nytimes)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
The Florida Senate passed a sweeping new bill overhauling the state's electoral process, adding new restrictions to the state election code and establishing a law enforcement office dedicated solely to investigating election crimes.
The bill, which passed 24-14, now goes to the state's House of Representatives, where it could pass as soon as next week and land on the desk of Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, who is expected to sign it. One Republican, State Senator Jeff Brandes, voted against it. A Democratic senator, Loranne Ausley, initially voted yes, but immediately posted on Twitter that she "pushed the wrong button" and has since changed her vote.
Though Republicans in the state had passed another sweeping voting law in May of last year, Mr. DeSantis made election reform one of the top priorities for this legislative session as well. Both efforts come after the 2020 election in Florida was without any major issues, and Republicans in the state touted it as a "gold standard" for election administration.
The legislation is poised to become the first major election-related bill to pass this year in a critical battleground state, and it would indicate no sign of cresting for the wave of new election laws, adding more restrictions to voting, that began last year — with 34 laws passed in 19 states.
The core of the bill is the establishment of a permanent election crimes office within the Department of State, which would make Florida one of the first states to have an agency solely dedicated to election crimes and voter fraud, despite such offenses being exceedingly rare in the United States. An investigation last year by The Associated Press found fewer than 475 potential claims of fraud out of 25.5 million ballots cast for president in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
The new office would assist the secretary of state's office in investigating complaints and allegations, initiating their own independent inquiries and overseeing a voter fraud hotline. It would include an unspecified number of investigators, and Mr. DeSantis would also appoint at least one special officer in each of the regional offices of the State Department of Law Enforcement to investigate election crimes.
The bill would also raise the penalties on those collecting and submitting more than two absentee ballots from a misdemeanor to a felony.
Voting rights groups are worried that the continuing criminalization of the voting process could both frighten voters away from participating and leave election officials fearing prosecution over honest mistakes.
"Involving law enforcement with this sort of vague mandate obviously creates issues and can have certainly a detrimental effect in terms of the ability of voters to cast ballots if they're worried about law enforcement involvement," said Daniel Griffith, the policy director at Secure Democracy USA, a nonpartisan organization focused on elections and voter access. "And it has a detrimental effect on election officials if they're worried that there's going to be law enforcement over their shoulder."
Previously, investigations into election fraud were handled by Florida's secretary of state, the Department of Law Enforcement and the attorney general. Democrats argued that the bill effectively creates a new agency to do work that was done by existing agencies. The agency's creation, Democrats say, is just a political ploy to signal that Florida and Mr. DeSantis are staying tough on an issue core to both the Republican base and to former President Donald J. Trump.
"Why are we doing this?" said State Senator Lori Berman during debate on Friday. "The only thing I can think is that we're motivated by the 'Big Lie' that the elections nationwide didn't take place in a proper manner. But we know that is not true."
State Senator Travis Hutson, the sponsor of the bill and a Republican, defended it during debate on Friday, stating that having a dedicated force would both uncover more fraud and make the state able to handle more allegations.
"We did have great elections, the governor mentioned that," said Mr. Hutson. "But I would submit to you that we can always do better."
He added: "I will say there is no voter intimidation or no suppressing votes in this bill."
The new election office drew criticisms from some Republican members as well, who argued that it was unnecessary.
"For 15 people to go after what is potentially a handful of complaints that will ultimately be substantiated is just absolutely almost comical," said Mr. Brandes during debate on Friday, referring to suggestions from the executive branch that they assign 15 investigators to the office. "So I am not going to support this bill today."
Uniformed law enforcement officials have been used in the past to deter and suppress voters. In 1982, the Republican National Committee dispatched a group of armed, off-duty police officers known as the National Ballot Security Task Force to linger around New Jersey polling locations during a closely contested governor's election. The Democratic National Committee sued, forcing the R.N.C. into a consent decree to ban such tactics.
Those memories appeared to be still on the minds of lawmakers in the Florida legislature. During debate on Thursday, State Senator Victor Manuel Torres Jr. asked Mr. Hutson, the sponsor of the bill: "Will these individuals be in uniform or civilian attire?"
Mr. Hutson responded that the current enforcement arm of the secretary of state dresses in civilian attire, and that members of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement are likely to be uniformed.
In addition to the new Office of Election Crimes and Security, the bill adds other new restrictions to voting, including banning ranked-choice voting; raising the cap on fines of third-party registration groups from $1,000 to $50,000; extending a ban on private funding for election administration to include the "cost of any litigation"; and replacing references to "drop boxes" with "secure ballot intake stations."
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republicans are against big government...
republicans create new government agency...
for a crime that requires a high powered microscope to discover.....IDIOTS wasting more money on fractions of a percentile, is just juvenile delinquency for old white people gone crazy with the GOP which seems as of late to stand for G- ot O- P -roof
hypocrites...
I am sure they will defend this somehow...
Most likely the 'don't you want elections to be secure'...
Hypocrisy is derived from the Greek word "hypocrisies," which means playing a part on the stage or putting on a mask to misrepresent reality. It means to create an appearance that does not explain one's motives. Hypocrisy is a form of deception. In ancient Greek theatres, actors were known as hypocrites without any negative connotations."
The GOP feels no negative connotation should be applied when THEY do what they consistently preach against, in about every relm of their inaccurate actuality that they form to fit their deformity and or abnormality, that they, not you nor me, can so clearly see through their obstructed views,as they try, to change the Rules, their ignorance makes it difficult for they to not stand out as the fools they are and behavior bazaar by far, wronged Righties,who's tighty whiteeez keep bunchin as the asses keep munchin on munchinkin minded do nots, who dwarf when challenged by those not mental midgets, cause a bunch of not caring Kaerens whence it comes to substance, unless illegal, cause they sniff out the damn truth, like a constipated Beagle so full of shit, they can play king of their own mountain when done expulsing their spew, cause causes are so untrue, from dissolving the Post Office Mechanism during an encouraged vote by mail, because of their irony deficiency delivered via two thumbs down, fore to they UPS, all around their alligator arm reach, as they are the preachers pregnant daughter portraying her purity while prostituting and dancing round the GOPols asz they position themselves to again lower their perch as they fish things right out of thin airheads whose fat headed ideas never cease to amaze, or set Bibles ablaze when their back in the saddle, riding US to the Bottom once again, which reminds me of one bad asz song i must now go and find, so they can sing along to Bottom Feeder by Corrosion of Conformity, for it is a natural for the Super Senseless, who have discovered Lock Ness is the illusion they dont hypocrite less, as they blame it on the key, they discovered doesn't open the combi nation groomed to be consumed as outlawed is exhumed cause their pigs wear perfumed dishes that smell not like phish, more so a Barney Miller type aroma, for they are truly the Bottom Feeders and constant seeders as they wish ignorance to perpetually grow, so they provide enuff manure, to make it so, as the fluke of fckd, tells em all so....
Hopefully Florida lawmakers won't be immune to prosecution as they are the worst offenders.
Would have voted your comment up but I am trying to get away from generalizing. That said, I agree that this is an unnecessary increase in the size of the Florida government by someone who claims to be against big government. The only reason I see him doing this is for the optics. It will be an unnecessarily expensive optics.
Of course, this is the result of our clown show government. Every day both sides become more extreme, which just serves to fuel more extremism from the other side, and so we will continue to see more crap like this all the time.
And the law will stand only as long as it takes for a Republican to break it.
Then the more fiscally responsible people will eliminate the new department.
If history is any guide this will only serve to scare off those who are inclined towards voter fraud, thus reducing the votes for Republican candidates.
I can't help thinking of all of the ministers and politicians who constantly espouse celibacy for gays, faithfulness to a spouse
then get caught with their pants down...
R U implying Republicans, are not allowed to show they are Happy Monogamous Moral & Ethical Beacons, and Pill Heirs of our community ?
What does that have to do with the topic of the seeded article?
never met a n alogy B 4, but if i did, id be early, cause a never metabefore
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