An elections bill that hikes fines on third-party voter registration groups, shortens the window to return mail ballots and ensures Gov. Ron DeSantis doesn’t need to resign to run for President passed the House and is on its way to DeSantis’ desk.
Democrats slammed the measure as an attempt to suppress their voters.
The bill (SB 7050) bans non-citizens and ex-felons working for voter registration groups from handling applications and imposes a $50,000 fine for each infraction. Voters would also have two fewer days to return mail ballots.
“(This bill is) actually a clear attack on our democracy,” said Rep. Angie Nixon, a Jacksonville Democrat. “It’s designed to keep communities down and apathetic and hopeless.”
The bill passed 76-34 along party lines. Republicans said they only wanted to ensure election integrity.
Rep. Lawrence McClure, a Dover Republican who sponsored the bill, said non-citizens can still advocate and encourage people to register to vote, but they can’t touch sensitive voter information.
“It’s only at the moment that they’re going to collect and handle that information that we want you to be a U.S. citizen,” McClure said.
Florida’s resign-to-run law requires an elected official to submit, at the time they qualify to run for another office, an irrevocable resignation effective the date his or her new elected position would start. Although Republicans said it doesn’t apply to candidates for President or Vice President, they “clarified” the law anyway.
“I personally believe this is just a clarification in law,” said Rep. Ralph Massullo, a Lecanto Republican. “It is an individual office that is unique to any office that we have. It is the chief executive of our country.”
The move comes as DeSantis is widely assumed to be gearing up to run for the GOP nomination for President. He has yet to officially announce a run, but went on a book tour earlier this year and has a super PAC named Never Back Down that has begun running ads on his behalf.
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