DeSantis has taken the initiative to find what he can in Florida. Bill SB 524 does a number of things. The penalty for ballot harvesting is now a third degree felony. ID requirements for mail in ballots are now stronger. Voter rolls need to be checked every year and it prohibits election officials from receiving money outside their pay. A lot of problems might be solved if voting is done in person on one day.
DeSantis created a police force
The Office of Election Crimes and Security was created to probe cases of election fraud. Where the swing states may have put something temporary together, DeSantis went a step further because election fraud will happen again.
Ballot harvesting, voter ID for mail in ballots, voter rolls and election officials receiving “extra” money are focused on in this. When DeSantis signed it he said, “I don’t think there’s any place in the country where you should have more confidence that your vote counts than in the State of Florida.’
The legislation I signed today will continue to make Florida a leader in election integrity by increasing penalties for ballot harvesting, expanding our ban on Zuckerbucks, and establishing an election integrity unit in state government to enforce our laws. pic.twitter.com/FPez9uf1gU
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) April 25, 2022
Officers were appointed
Before this law if he thought they were necessary. This demands that he select a group of officers from the Department of Law Enforcement to work on allegations.
DeSantis did this because not every member of the current police force cares about elections. “Some of them may not care as much about the election stuff. I think it’s been mixed at how those reactions are going to be. So we just want to make sure whatever laws are on the books, that those laws are enforced,” he explained.
Money not used as intended
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg had a hand in election operations. He donated over $350 million to state jurisdictions ostensibly to help with COVID concerns.
That money wasn’t used as intended. The ‘get out the vote’ effort in Pennsylvania got $20 million from the Center for Tech and Civic Life. That money came from Zuckerberg. DeSantis took to Twitter to comment on this law, “The legislation I signed today will continue to make Florida a leader in election integrity by increasing penalties for ballot harvesting, expanding our ban on Zuckerbucks and establishing an election integrity unit in state government to enforce our laws.”