Gov. DeSantis gins up fake fear of fraud to suppress opponents' votes
Florida Republicans know what it means to fight to win, even at great cost to American values.
In 2000 they had party operatives pounding on the doors at Miami-Dade's Government Center to intimidate vote canvassers in the Bush-Gore race. In 2010 they blatantly cheated in redrawing political districts in their favor, reversed only by a Herculean, three-and-a-half-year court battle.
They're at it again this year, not that they ever stopped, using their legislative majority to pass laws that place restrictions on drop boxes, collection of mail-in ballots and volunteer voter registration drives, with Gov. Ron DeSantis throwing curveballs from the mound, pitching the laws as strengthening voters' rights and election integrity while they accomplish the opposite.
“Florida took action this legislative session to increase transparency and strengthen the security of our elections,” Gov. DeSantis in signing Senate BIll 90 in May. “Floridians can rest assured that our state will remain a leader in ballot integrity. Elections should be free and fair, and these changes will ensure this continues to be the case in the Sunshine State.
The governor praised the legislation as an instrument to strengthen voter identification, prohibit mass-mailing of ballots, ban ballot harvesting (the practice of political operatives collecting ballots from voters' homes), and prohibit private money from administering elections.
But there was never a hint of voter fraud that would argue in favor of such restrictions. There's only the fact that minorities, the elderly, disabled and other Democratic voters rely on the ease of drop box and mail-in voting to cast votes, votes the Republicans know would turn out overwhelmingly against a party that cares little for the social progress of citizens of color and which, it would seem, fears it.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/gov-desantis-gins-fake-fear-110049990.html