- Oct 17, 2011
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Florida lawmakers were poised this year to protect election workers from harassment. Then, conservative “election integrity” activists worked to kill the effort.
a coalition called Florida Fair Elections raised objections to language that sought to make it a third-degree felony to harass or intimidate election workers with the intention of interfering with their duties. Within weeks of the group’s lobbying effort, Florida’s Republican-controlled state legislature had stripped the provision from a broad elections bill that passed late last month, which was sent to Gov. Ron DeSantis for his signature on Tuesday.
The Florida group, according to its website, is part of the Election Integrity Network, launched by longtime Republican election lawyer Cleta Mitchell
“The election denial movement looks different today than it looked in 2020 or 2022, but … there’s so much more that’s happening under the surface,” said Joanna Lydgate, the president and CEO of the States United Democracy Center, a nonprofit that works to advance free and fair elections. “This is a well-coordinated attack on our elections. It’s not letting up.”
Since January 2022, 10 states – California, Colorado, Maine, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon and Washington state – have passed new laws that protect election workers’ personal information or that create or stiffen penalties for harassment of these workers,
a coalition called Florida Fair Elections raised objections to language that sought to make it a third-degree felony to harass or intimidate election workers with the intention of interfering with their duties. Within weeks of the group’s lobbying effort, Florida’s Republican-controlled state legislature had stripped the provision from a broad elections bill that passed late last month, which was sent to Gov. Ron DeSantis for his signature on Tuesday.
The Florida group, according to its website, is part of the Election Integrity Network, launched by longtime Republican election lawyer Cleta Mitchell
“The election denial movement looks different today than it looked in 2020 or 2022, but … there’s so much more that’s happening under the surface,” said Joanna Lydgate, the president and CEO of the States United Democracy Center, a nonprofit that works to advance free and fair elections. “This is a well-coordinated attack on our elections. It’s not letting up.”
Since January 2022, 10 states – California, Colorado, Maine, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon and Washington state – have passed new laws that protect election workers’ personal information or that create or stiffen penalties for harassment of these workers,
