DeSantis' controversial election police unit sparks new uproar

Republicans in Florida had reason to be pleased with the 2020 election in their state. Not only did GOP candidates perform excellently on several levels, but the election was virtually uncontroversial. The Sunshine State has traditionally called itself the gold standard in election administration, and 2020 was no exception.

But Donald Trump's conspiracy theories fueled a wearying hysteria in Florida's Republican circles, prompting Republican officials to impose new restrictions to address a problem that didn't exist. Among the “reforms” was the creation of an Office of Election Crime and Security, which far-right Governor Ron DeSantis wanted to use to prosecute election crimes that largely didn't (and don't) exist.

Not surprisingly, the special unit is controversial and several of the cases it pursued ultimately failed.

After the multi-million dollar office was approved in 2022, Julian Sanchez of the Cato Institute the problem well summarized: “There is hardly anything more dangerous than a government agency that is given money and resources to solve a problem that does not exist. If they have to, they usually invent it themselves.”

That quote came to mind again this week. The Washington Post reported on the Republican governor's election police who are “investigating alleged fraud in the signature collection for the state's upcoming abortion referendum.”

In his social media message, the local voter wrote that he was “shaken” by his experience with police, adding that it was “disturbing” that the DeSantis administration was devoting so many resources to such an endeavor.

In case it isn't obvious, just last year the Republican governor and his allies in the state legislature pushed through a controversial and unpopular six-week abortion ban. Soon after, voters across the state began collecting signatures for a ballot bill that would overturn DeSantis' abortion ban and enshrine reproductive rights in the Florida state constitution.

The governor claimed that wealthy philanthropist George Soros was secretly behind the scheme, and DeSantis accused the state's all-Republican Supreme Court of giving voters the opportunity to weigh in on the matter.

Apparently, however, this was not the only response from the governor. The DeSantis administration also appears to have sent police officers to some homes in Florida to ask them for their signatures on abortion rights petitions.

Democratic Rep. Anna Eskamani responded shortly thereafter: “Governor Ron DeSantis is driving this confused and undemocratic behavior to maintain the near-total abortion ban in our state. This is clearly voter intimidation and outright corruption – continue to denounce it and fight back.”

I don't think we've heard the last of it.