Florida’s voter-suppression brigades are biting the hand that elected them

Is it a conundrum wrapped in a mystery? Or is it partisan pandering?

Four months ago, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis sang Florida’s praises following the 2020 general election and held out our state on national media as the model of efficiency and accuracy to emulate around the country. Mail ballots and ballots cast during early voting were counted well in advance of the 7 p.m. in-person voting deadline on Election Night, for example. Indeed, those of us observing the Sunshine State’s election results that evening recall seeing those early ballots already accounted for in the online graphics generated by the Florida Supervisors of Elections hours before the in-person votes were counted and dropped into the vote totals. It was a far cry from the 2000 disaster.

So, if the recent election process went so swimmingly well, why is DeSantis now trying to jump on the voter suppression train and push through an agenda that professors, advocates and political analysts are all calling the greatest rollback of voting rights in this country since the Jim Crow era? Well, for one thing, the Republicans picked up five seats in the House and one in the Senate, and Donald Trump handily won Florida by 375,000 votes. In other words, DeSantis is doing it because he can. The legislative session in Florida is well underway now, and public access continues to be severely restricted; the Senate announced yet another new set of rules for committee attendance last week – without warning, of course. The result: A party in control of both chambers and the governorship can muscle through legislation with little to no oversight or accountability.

The outcome could be devastating to voters. Florida Senate proposal SB 90, sponsored by Ocala Republican Dennis Baxley, would require voters to request mail-in ballots more frequently, ban the use of drop boxes for voters to turn in ballots, and allow only “immediate” family members to collect and deliver ballots to and from voters.

DeSantis called last month for voting-law revisions, arguing that, despite a hiccup-free election in November, the state cannot “rest on our laurels.” Republicans have themselves relied heavily on the state’s no-excuse vote-by-mail process as the GOP has controlled the Legislature, almost all statewide offices, and a majority of congressional seats over the past two decades. However, as the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths began to spike last year in Florida and elsewhere, Democrats and left-leaning groups urged voters to cast ballots by mail. Election supervisors in Florida also encouraged the use of mail-in ballots in advance of the November election. As a result, the number of mail-in ballots skyrocketed.

Under existing state law, a voter’s request for a mail-in ballot is active for two general elections, which occur every two years. The Senate measure, if passed, would wipe out all current requests and require voters to request ballots if they want to vote by mail in next year’s election. In fact, the measure would require voters to request mail-in ballots prior to every general election. Even former President Donald Trump, a DeSantis ally, has acknowledged having voted by mail in the past, and to date, there is not a single member of the Florida Supervisors of Elections in favor of the proposal. Even the ultraconservative former Sen. Alan Hayes, who is the current election supervisor in Lake County, took to the CNN airwaves last week alongside the League of Women Voters of Florida to oppose the legislation.

Why is this proposal being championed by a governor whose party has only benefited from the very measures he seeks to destroy? The answer remains a mystery.

Carrie Boyd is a policy counsel for the SPLC Action Fund.

Photo by Imagn Content Services LLC/Greg Levett