TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WFLA) — In a continued effort to safe Florida’s elections, Republican lawmakers are actually trying to strengthen the verification technique of voter eligibility by including extra necessities for Floridians.
The invoice sponsor says he needs to shut present loopholes within the course of and stop future voter fraud.
Republicans behind the hassle say now shouldn’t be the time to relaxation on our laurels and that this invoice will solely proceed to safe our elections. Nonetheless, Democrats argue that the invoice will solely flip voters away.
State Consultant Berny Jacques of St. Petersburg says he needs to bolster public belief within the state’s election system.
“Now we have been main the nation in reforms, and it isn’t the time to relaxation on our laurels. We should proceed to safe our elections to ensure that there are not any gaps in our system, particularly relating to non-citizens voting in our elections, we should make sure that by no means happens within the state of Florida,” stated Jacques.
After the 2020 election, the Florida legislature enacted election integrity reforms. Consultant Jacques provides that his efforts on this laws now are a continuation of that battle.
“You can’t have a sovereign nation when you may have issues that compromise the integrity of our elections, and so it is a continuation of that battle,” stated Jacques.
Home Invoice 831 provides measures to confirm citizenship throughout the voter registration course of, seems to be to take away individuals who not reside within the state, provides an indicator on driver’s licenses and IDs of non-citizens, and so forth.
“This invoice provides extra measures to confirm citizenship upfront throughout the registration course of to ensure that those that are registered in our elections are actually residents. It additionally has voter roll upkeep and audits on a quarterly foundation to ensure that those that are not residing in our state, that may have moved, are faraway from our rolls and those that aren’t residing, interval, proper, those that are deceased, are faraway from the rolls and in addition ensure that non-citizens which are in our voter rolls are additionally eliminated,” stated Jacques.
With that, Democrats in opposition to the invoice say the additions will solely flip voters away.
“They made it seem to be we have now this huge fraud. You’ve all of those individuals from someplace else voting, the lifeless persons are voting, that is all only a bunch of foolishness. So, for me, that is attempting to make it harder for individuals. You place up as many roadblocks as you probably can, hoping that persons are not going to vote,” stated State Consultant Dianne Hart, D-Tampa.
Whereas the laws has been launched, it has not but been referred to as for a vote. Consultant Jacques says he believes the invoice hasn’t been referred to as for a vote but because of the variety of election payments filed this session and hopes his colleagues will see the significance of his efforts.
“That is one price pursuing as a result of the integrity of our elections is paramount,” stated Jacques.
