Pirate's Cove

This is similar to the one that Georgia passed, which was totally misconstrued and lied about by the Credentialed Media, Democrat pundits and lawmakers, and China Joe. Expect Florida to be the next state that the moonbats go after, especially the big companies.

Florida legislature approves measure that curbs mail voting and use of drop boxes

Florida’s legislature on Thursday night became the latest to approve far-reaching legislation imposing new rules on voting and new penalties for those who do not follow them, passing a measure critics said would make it harder for millions of voters to cast ballots in the Sunshine State.

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who named voting security one of his top legislative priorities this year, said late Thursday night on Fox News that he “of course” would sign the bill.

Like similar bills Republicans are pushing in dozens of state legislatures across the country, the Florida measure adds hurdles to voting by mail, restricts the use of drop boxes and prohibits any actions that could influence those standing in line to vote, which voting rights advocates said is likely to discourage nonpartisan groups from offering food or water to voters as they wait in the hot Florida sun.

Non-partisan means “hardcore leftist groups looking for ways around election laws to keep attempting to influence voters in line.” People can bring water with them. Poll workers can bring water. And, perhaps Democrats can learn to run voting sites better, because it’s usually the ones run by Dems with very long lines. And quite a few Democrat run states have the same law on providing food and water.

Like Georgia, and most states, Florida did not actually have laws on the use of drop boxes and such for voting. It was just willy nilly making it up last year, and the law now codifies it.

The passage of the bill was preceded by an hour of emotional debate, as Black lawmakers stood up to decry a measure they said was aimed squarely at curbing the clout of voters of color.

“You are making policies that are detrimental to our communities,” said an emotional state Rep. Angela Nixon (D), describing herself as “distraught and disheartened.”

No matter the color of the Democrat, they think that black people are dumb and unable to compete and do the things that white people do without the helpful hand of Government. Of course, the offer zero proof that any of this will hurt blacks.

Nevertheless, DeSantis has said new restrictions are needed to shore up election security. “So we think we led the nation, but we’re trying to stay ahead of the curve to make sure that these elections are run well,” DeSantis said in a Fox News segment with other GOP governors Thursday hosted by Laura Ingraham. (snip)

“Why wouldn’t you want to do that?” Rep. Thomas J. Leek (R) said during House debate Wednesday. “I’ve heard repeatedly that we’re trying to fix something that is not broken. But I guarantee you those same people who are making that argument today would come back in 2022 when the system breaks and complain that we didn’t anticipate things that we should have anticipated. This bill fixes those things.”

Like Georgia, this is getting ahead of the potential problems seen in other states, along with codifying things like the use of dropboxes.

The legislation prohibits mobile drop boxes, and it requires local election supervisors to staff all drop boxes and to allow ballots to be dropped in them only during early-voting hours. Supervisors who leave a drop box accessible outside those hours are subject to a civil penalty of $25,000. The state’s association of county election supervisors opposes the law.

So, it prohibits simply dropping a ballot box off somewhere with no one watching it, and requires ballot boxes to be watched? How horrible!

The bill also limits who may turn in a voter’s ballot, allowing only certain family members to do so or limiting individuals to turning in the ballots of just two nonfamily members.

Limiting ballot harvesting, and attempting to keep ballot integrity is just horrible!

One constituency absent from the debate in Tallahassee is the business sector, which in both Georgia and Texas weighed in to oppose voter restrictions. There has been less of that in Florida, both Republicans and Democrats said, because the business groups are largely aligned with the GOP on regulatory and tax issues, and many of the leading businesses rely on tourist-heavy customer bases who aren’t exerting any pressure.

In other words, those darn companies aren’t cooperating in becoming political.