A first-of-its-kind elections security office in pursuing election crimes is now passed by the Florida Senate Friday.
The Florida Senate voted 23-15 to send the bill to the House during a nighttime session Friday, where it’s expected to be voted on and sent to the governor next week.
Citing allegations of election fraud, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis proposed the need for an election police unit last year following former President Donald Trump’s claims that his reelection was stolen.
DeSantis also wanted the elections security office to assert control over any local election-related investigation The governor would be required to appoint a group of special officers from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement who would be dedicated to pursuing the election law violations.
The bill would create an Office of Election Crimes and Security under the Department of State to review fraud allegations and conduct preliminary investigations. State law currently allows the governor to appoint officers to investigate violations of election law but does not require him to do so.
Of course, Democrats would argue anything to secure the election. Meaning they don’t have any chance to exploit the election process.
Democrat Sen. Lori Berman argued:
“We all know that Florida had a great election so why are we doing this? The only thing I can think is that we’re motivated by the Big Lie, that the elections nationwide did not take place in a proper manner, but we know that’s not true”
AP news added:
The proposal also would increase the penalty for so-called “ballot harvesting,” the collection of completed ballots by a third party, to a felony. Fines for certain election law violations would be raised and election supervisors would be required to more frequently conduct maintenance of their voter lists, under the measure.
The legislation follows a voting law approved by Florida’s GOP-controlled legislature and signed by DeSantis last year that placed new rules on ballot drop boxes and required a driver’s license number, state ID number or last four digits of a Social Security number to request a mail ballot. Last year’s law is the subject of an federal trial after being challenged by voting rights groups.
Source: NewsMax via AP
