Florida governor DeSantis proposes special police agency to monitor elections

SMALL GOVERNMENT!!!

I like DeSantis, but this is a step too far.

It should be a branch of the governors household guard.

I think its really ok for ANYONE to "propose".. it can be good or bad. And for me the WP.. not one I read to get all the facts. In that story alone you see the bias. its a great idea.. not ALL what he said but.. we need something. Election fraud has been happening before I was born. Courts have been over turning some state elections for years now.

For me I think its to late..

Fear not, Comrades -- the Special Police will insure that every Republican vote gets counted in future elections... and just to be safe, they'll count them twice.

essentialsaltes said:

A plan by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis would establish a special police force to oversee state elections — the first of its kind in the nation — and while his fellow Republicans have reacted tepidly, voting rights advocates fear that it will become law and be used to intimidate voters.

Voting rights experts say that no state has such an agency, one dedicated to patrolling elections and empowered to arrest suspected violators.

[T]he 2020 general election in Florida had few problems. The governor touted it as “the gold standard.”

“The way Florida did it, I think, inspired confidence,” DeSantis said on Nov. 4, 2020, hours after the results showed that President Donald Trump had won the state by more than three percentage points. “I think that’s how elections should be run.”

Except that now a special police force is needed to monitor elections.

Some of the officials who run elections in each of Florida’s 67 counties were alarmed by what they heard. They fear overreach from the executive branch, especially in a year when DeSantis is running for reelection.

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What could possibly go wrong with this stellar idea!?

Pommer said:

What could possibly go wrong with this stellar idea!?

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Not a thing that any reasonable person can come up with. Maybe they'll even get special armbands. I'm sure the retirees in Miami-Dade will love that.

If DeSantis wants to monitor election fraud, he would do best to install surveillance devices in the legislative halls where, in several states, one political party wants to invalidate legal results to appoint their preferred candidates.

If such a police force is installed, there will be thousands of eyes on them looking for intimidation, and the state will have so many lawsuits slapped on it DeSantis will have to hire an extra crew of lawyers to defend their unneeded, unethical, and unconscionable interference.

essentialsaltes said:

It always helps to have people on hand with the right tools for inspecting registration forms.

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That's Sergeant Jim Crow to you, boy!

Fantine said:

If DeSantis wants to monitor election fraud, he would do best to install surveillance devices in the legislative halls where, in several states, one political party wants to invalidate legal results to appoint their preferred candidates.

If such a police force is installed, there will be thousands of eyes on them looking for intimidation, and the state will have so many lawsuits slapped on it DeSantis will have to hire an extra crew of lawyers to defend their unneeded, unethical, and unconscionable interference.

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In Michigan they used police to remove Republican observers and to stop them from entering. Some important keys to elections are voter ID, signature verification for ballots, and letting as many people as possible observe (not from over 100 feet, but close-up observation by people and cameras.)

Valletta said:

In Michigan they used police to remove Republican observers and to stop them from entering. Some important keys to elections are voter ID, signature verification for ballots, and letting as many people as possible observe (not from over 100 feet, but close-up observation by people and cameras.)

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Have you any comment relevant to this thread?

Valletta said:

In Michigan they used police to remove Republican observers and to stop them from entering.

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Fact check: Videos of crowd locked out of Detroit center lack context
The Detroit Free Press reported that challengers from both sides were locked out because the limit on challengers had already been exceeded. Earlier in the day, 268 Democratic challengers, 227 Republican challengers and 75 nonpartisan challengers were on the floor. The Free Press reported roughly 400 challengers were “freely roaming the room.”

“We were well over the 134 maximum," said the city of Detroit’s lead attorney Lawrence Garcia. "In the haste of doing business, nobody noticed that until it was over 200 for each party, and at that point, we said, we better stop admitting people until some people leave, and we’re under the 134 number.”

So, yes people were locked out, but that consisted both of Republican and Democrat watchers AND at the same time there were also an over allotment of watchers from both parties already in the room watching.

stevil said:

Fact check: Videos of crowd locked out of Detroit center lack context
The Detroit Free Press reported that challengers from both sides were locked out because the limit on challengers had already been exceeded. Earlier in the day, 268 Democratic challengers, 227 Republican challengers and 75 nonpartisan challengers were on the floor. The Free Press reported roughly 400 challengers were “freely roaming the room.”

“We were well over the 134 maximum," said the city of Detroit’s lead attorney Lawrence Garcia. "In the haste of doing business, nobody noticed that until it was over 200 for each party, and at that point, we said, we better stop admitting people until some people leave, and we’re under the 134 number.”

So, yes people were locked out, but that consisted both of Republican and Democrat watchers AND at the same time there were also an over allotment of watchers from both parties already in the room watching.

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There's more to Michigan than Detroit. There's plenty of sworn corroborated testimony about the removal of observers, has the Detroit Free Press offered to swear under oath that the affidavits are false? Did the Detroit Free Press actually check the credentials of anyone?

Valletta said:

There's more to Michigan than Detroit. There's plenty of sworn corroborated testimony about the removal of observers, has the Detroit Free Press offered to swear under oath that the affidavits are false? Did the Detroit Free Press actually check the credentials of anyone?

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All the claims I've heard about MIchigan center around Detroit, and as was just pointed out, yes there were people removed but there were also plenty of observers already. Plus this has nothing to do with what DeSantis is planning in Florida.

Arcangl86 said:

All the claims I've heard about MIchigan center around Detroit, and as was just pointed out, yes there were people removed but there were also plenty of observers already. Plus this has nothing to do with what DeSantis is planning in Florida.

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Then you too have no knowledge of Michigan outside of Detroit.

Valletta said:

Then you too have no knowledge of Michigan outside of Detroit.

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Instead of insulting me, maybe you can provide evidence of a claim of irregularities outside of Detroit.

Voter suppression is almost always centered around cities. In Texas, most of the voter suppression efforts seem to be centered around Houston. Recently almost half the voter registrations they received in the mail were rejected because of things like failure to put in a middle initial (or failing to use it if it was used on the driver's license, giving an SSN instead of a driver's license #, etc.) There was no followup to give them an opportunity to correct the difference.

This isn't happening to the small farmers in the Texas panhandle, because they vote overwhelmingly Republican.

In Georgia the suppression laws focus on Atlanta. In Michigan it's Detroit. In Arizona it's Phoenix.

Similarly, gerrymandering is focused on cities--trying to add city voters to districts in the outskirts--not enough to turn the outskirts Democratic, but enough to give the city voters fewer seats--and less representation in Congress or state legislatures.

Governor DeSantis doesn't want to send put paid observers in the Florida panhandle towns, where they would do nothing but pat their buddies on the back.

Valletta said:

There's plenty of sworn corroborated testimony about the removal of observers

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What is more important is to know whether observers were present when counting was performed.

Just because observers are removed that doesn't mean that other observers weren't present.
I am suspecting that this all happened on purpose for optics.
Get lots of people there so that some of them will be removed. Get testimony of removal, get pictures of people outside trying to get in but being blocked.

When YOU are complaining here, you are only telling half stories for optics.
What we need is full disclosure.

It is unimportant if observers are removed, it is more important if vote counts are continuing without any observers present and if observers at that time had the opportunity to be present or not.