Gov. Ron DeSantis Dangerously Calls for an ‘Election Police Force’

The acold Right’s march to bounds voting to the maximum grade imaginable continues apace.

As initially reported precocious Thursday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis utilized a speaking lawsuit successful West Palm Beach to denote his volition to signifier an predetermination constabulary force. DeSantis’s connection goes acold beyond utilizing already established authorities instrumentality enforcement and dedicating a information of their clip and effort during an predetermination season. No, successful these days of fund cuts, DeSantis’s telephone involves creating an wholly caller instrumentality enforcement bureau with 1 sole focus.

From AOL.com:

 Citing unspecified examples of predetermination fraud, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis connected Wednesday pledged to make a instrumentality enforcement bureau to analyse predetermination crimes arsenic portion of a caller bundle of voting laws. 

Speaking astatine an lawsuit successful West Palm Beach, the Republican politician announced a bid of predetermination instrumentality proposals for lawmakers to instrumentality up during adjacent year’s legislative session, including caller restrictions connected ballot driblet boxes and strengthened penalties for ballot harvesting. 

Normally 1 expects proposals specified arsenic those supra arsenic a effect to caller problems recovered successful an existing enactment e.g. “Joint cause task forces.” But arsenic the study states elsewhere, determination is wide statement that Florida’s 2020 predetermination was devoid of immoderate important fraud, efficient, and wholly accurate. Of course, each the close Republicans won Florida successful 2020.

Given this “solution” successful hunt of a problem, DeSantis helpfully cited the pressing issues helium wants locked down:

“There’ll beryllium people, if you spot idiosyncratic ballot harvesting, you know, what bash you do? If you telephone into the predetermination office, a batch of times they don’t bash anything. If you cognize that, there’s, you know, successful Florida, it’s Constitutionally mandated, lone citizens are allowed to ballot successful Florida, and yet you spot examples of people, they’ll adjacent cheque they’re not citizens, and they’ll inactive beryllium fixed ballots,” helium said to applause. 

First of all, the United States Constitution prohibits voting by non-citizens, DeSantis is disingenuously trying to marque Florida dependable unique. But acold much superior concerns lurk down DeSantis’s caller proposal, not the slightest of which is that close Republicans did win successful Florida, present see what Georgia mightiness bash if this works.

Second, “ballot harvesting”? DeSantis is apt not acrophobic astir an aged antheral successful a play cart going up and down the streets of “The Villages” and taking the ballots to the precincts oregon placing them successful driblet boxes. Such a bully antheral is not ballot harvesting, helium is simply being neighborly, helping others retired – immoderate person occupation getting retired of the location and navigating the streets. In reality, the antheral is besides ensuring each the close votes are collected. The 2 motives are not mutually exclusive, successful immoderate context. It is conscionable easier to constabulary elsewhere.

Moreover, DeSantis’s grimacing interest astir non-citizens voting is the existent tell, the archer nary 1 truly needed. First, amerciable immigrants bash not vote, period. An amerciable migrant would wade done a snake-filled Florida canal earlier that migrant would participate a spot tally by authorities empowered officials and past springiness that aforesaid authorities their name, address, and different interaction information. This is precisely wherefore determination has ne'er been a survey oregon probe uncovering much than a fistful of highly isolated cases of non-citizens voting.

But overmuch much importantly, the lone means by which specified a constabulary unit could halt a “non-citizen” from “walking successful and picking up a ballot” is by having that instrumentality enforcement cause lasting successful the country during the process and that is what Ron DeSantis truly wants. DeSantis knows that determination are POC successful our assemblage that bash not spot the constabulary arsenic a unit to “protect and serve,” but person experienced “harassment and abuse.”

It is precisely due to the fact that of modern policing patterns and tribunal penalties that the mediocre and POC are acold much apt to person an unpaid ticket, oregon missed tribunal day determination lingering successful the distant past, and rightly fearfulness that thing astir their “appearance” unsocial volition service arsenic capable probable origin to detain and search. Law enforcement already leans heavy conservative. In a adjacent race, 1 tin astir number upon officers from specified an bureau looking for the “type” they don’t privation voting, which surely motivates DeSantis’s dream.

This is modern Jim Crow, nary antithetic than canvass taxes, literacy tests, and the like. It is an adjacent much assertive reply to outlawing “Souls to the Polls” practices, utilized astir exclusively by Black Americans. Perhaps astir disturbingly, the sinister intent is wholly transparent, the principles are wholly undemocratic, and Ron DeSantis’s supporters wholly don’t care.