“That is simply step one. There are lots of extra within the pipeline,” DeSantis stated. “We’re not simply going to show a blind eye to this. The times of that taking place in Florida are over.”
DeSantis stated that the workplace is actively investigating individuals who have voted in two states and undocumented immigrants who he says might have voted illegally in Florida. He supplied no particular particulars about these ongoing investigations.
Voting rights teams, most of whom opposed the creation of the election’s investigation workplace, pushed again exhausting towards the announcement.
Florida Rising Government Director Andrea Mercado stated the announcement is an indication that his administration is undermining folks’s entry to voting, and famous a DeSantis’ drawn congressional redistricting map erased a North Florida congressional district that has lengthy carried out for Black voters.
“Nobody has carried out extra to violate the integrity of Florida’s elections and make it tougher for Floridians to be a part of our democracy than Ron DeSantis,” she stated. “If we had an actual election integrity division, they might be arresting the governor for erasing Black districts and threatening neighbors serving to neighbors forged their poll.”
“What at present reveals isn’t that democracy is working in Florida, it’s that the workplaces which might be making an attempt to show our state into one-man rule will do no matter they will to distract and deflect from how they’ve diminished Floridians’ skill to vote and have their voice heard,” she added.
In 2018, state voters handed Modification 4, which arrange a course of the place most felons might get their voting rights restored. Some extreme convictions, like homicide or felony sexual assault, didn’t qualify beneath the constitutional language.
Through the press convention, DeSantis was flanked by law enforcement officials, Election Crimes and Safety workplace director Pete Antonacci, Secretary of State Twine Byrd and Lawyer Normal Ashley Moody.
“As elected leaders, it’s incumbent on us to make sure free and honest elections and instill confidence within the voting course of,” Moody stated. “No voting system can stand with out the backing and confidence of the folks it serves.”
Moody joined a Texas-led 2020 lawsuit final yr suing 4 swing states over “voting irregularities.” The lawsuit, which the Tampa Bay Instances reported was mocked by her personal attorneys, was thrown out by the U.S. Supreme Courtroom.
DeSantis made clear, as he has previously, that he thought total Florida’s 2020 election was an “environment friendly, clear election.” DeSantis has needed to stroll a tightrope as former President Donald Trump has refused to acknowledge President Joe Biden gained the election and pressured states to audit their elections. DeSantis didn’t transfer ahead with an audit however has pushed for election overhaul payments, together with creation of the election’s investigation workplace.
DeSantis has had an outsized give attention to voter fraud in Florida, which is comparatively uncommon, and amplified these issues throughout Thursday’s press convention, which included these in attendance holding campaign-style indicators that learn “My Vote Counts” and got here with DeSantis’ signature.
DeSantis didn’t give particular particulars about which areas of the state the arrests have been made, however stated the bulk have been in Democratic strongholds of Palm, Broward and Miami-Dade counties.
DeSantis held no comparable press convention earlier this yr when 4 males from The Villages, a sprawling retirement neighborhood that leans closely Republican, have been arrested for making an attempt to forged a number of ballots.
