The controversy stemming from Ron-da Santis' migrant bus stunt has obscured the fallout from his faux-crackdown on voter laws. In one of his first appeals to the MAGA anti-Democracy faction, DeSantis announced he would be cracking down on the electoral change that he personally signed and made into law. But of course, it's not actually what it seems.
In August, DeSantis announced that his crack team of investigators had arrested and charged “20” Floridians with illegally voting. DeSantis refused to answer any questions and avoided the inquiries of reporters who tried to verify the Florida governor’s claims. It turns out that there were indeed 19 Floridians arrested and charged with “election crimes,” but it also turned out that most of those people had been told by Florida officials that they could vote.
The Washington Post decided to speak with some of the people that Ron DeSantis is trying to use as an example of elector fraud. This included people like 53-year-old Leo Grant, who was surprised when three agents arrested him while he was on his way to fish. “I’ve been a good father, and I follow the law,” he thought. “I do good for the community. And here they come to my house and pick me up for voting?”
Most of the people DeSantis’ squad arrested and charged were Black, and most of them (if not all) had gone through standard channels to register to vote. These are not people who stole someone else’s identity in order to vote. These are not people pretending to be deceased citizens (like what Republican voter fraudsters do, it seems.) In many cases, the people DeSantis is preying on were given what they believed was a green light by the state.
“If the state is unable to determine that these people were not eligible to vote, how on earth are these individuals themselves supposed to know?” asked Daniel A. Smith, a University of Florida political science professor and expert on state and national election laws. “It’s really unconscionable. … They’re punching down and targeting the low-hanging fruit.”
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