The state’s arrest last week of 20 Floridians on charges of voter fraud had nothing to do with election integrity and everything to do with intimidating voters. This was a small-potatoes racket that’s threatening to expand when what Florida needs is a better system for ensuring legal voting in the first place.
Gov. Ron DeSantis touted the arrests before a phalanx of uniformed law enforcement officers at the Broward County Courthouse, crediting the state’s newly formed elections police force for “the opening salvo” of a coming crackdown. A spokesperson for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said the alleged crimes took place during the 2020 election, and that each person was charged with one count of false affirmation and one count of voting as an unqualified elector. DeSantis said those arrested were disqualified from voting because of convictions for either murder or sexual assault, making them ineligible to have their voting rights automatically restored under Amendment 4, which Florida voters approved in 2018 to make it easier for felons to cast a ballot.
The law’s the law, of course, but these people didn’t register to vote by themselves. Romona Oliver, for example, disclosed her felony conviction while registering to vote in Hillsborough County in 2020. But no one told Oliver her murder conviction was disqualifying. Now the 55-year-old Tampa resident worries about losing her seamstress job and returning to jail. Five of those arrested last week told the Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald that they believed they were qualified to vote, had no trouble registering and would have refrained if they knew they were ineligible.
