(LibertySociety.com) – In the months since the 2020 election, Republican lawmakers across the US have developed plans to ensure the counting of every legal vote in future elections. On Thursday, May 6, Florida became the latest state to pass a voter security law. Unfortunately, a flurry of lawsuits hit the state in response almost immediately.
Florida’s Voting Law
The Sunshine State’s new law is a lot like the one Georgia passed in March. It tightens voter ID laws and more strictly regulates drop boxes. Ballot harvesting is also outlawed. That’s when political operatives and other people collect ballots from voters and then turn them in en masse.
The legislation also prohibits universal mail-in voting. That means that voters will have to request absentee ballots, and counties cannot send them out to all of the registered voters in the district. Floridians have used absentee voting as an alternative to going to the polls for years, and the new law won’t change that. It’ll just make it more secure.
The new law also prohibits people from approaching voters in line to influence them in any way. Voting rights advocates say that will stop people from handing out food and water to people waiting in the sun to vote. Republicans say it will prevent electioneering.
Lawsuits Filed
Almost immediately after DeSantis signed the bill, a number of liberal groups filed lawsuits against the state. The League of Women Voters of Florida joined a lawsuit with the Florida Alliance for Retired Americans, Black Voters Matter Fund, and some individual voters to sue the state. The NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, along with Common Cause, filed another suit, alleging the legislation puts obstacles in voters’ way. There are others against the state, as well.
Despite the lawsuits, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) defends the law. In an interview with “Fox & Friends,” he said that by signing the bill, he let his residents know that their “vote counts” and that it will “be cast with integrity and transparency.” He called the Sunshine State a “great place for democracy.”
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