Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is proposing legislation he says is aimed at safeguarding future elections in the state.
“Last November, Florida held the smoothest, most successful election of any state in the country,” he said in a statement on Friday. “While we should celebrate this feat, we should not rest on our laurels.
“Today, we are taking action to ensure that Florida remains a leader on key issues regarding our electoral process, such as ballot integrity, public access to election information, transparency of election reporting, and more."
The Orlando Sentinel said the legislation would address “ballot harvesting” by mandating that no one could handle ballots other than their own and those of immediate family members.
It would also prevent any “mass mailing of vote-by-mail ballots.” Presently, no county in Florida sends out any mass mailings of ballots, according to the Sentinel.
The proposed legislation would also mandate that vote-by-mail ballot signatures must match the most recent signatures on file.
It would also require disputed ballots to be posted on county supervisor websites and ban counties from receiving grants from outside groups for “get-out-the-vote” initiatives, the Sentinel noted.
The proposal will also deal with the use of drop boxes, where vote-by-mail ballots could be dropped off at secure locations.
“By strengthening these election integrity protections, we will ensure that our elections remain secure and transparent, and that Florida’s electoral process remains a blueprint for other states to follow,” DeSantis said.
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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