Yet again, the Republican leadership in the state of Florida has added to their notorious reputation of passing restrictive voter suppression laws with the passage of SB 524. This unnecessary bill that Governor DeSantis has vowed to sign into law is nothing more than a tool to further insulate Republican political power at the expense of Floridian’s voting rights. This law will create a partisan appointed elections police department, pave the way for voters to be removed from the voting rolls, and further prohibit Supervisors of Elections from being able to effectively do their job with the support of well-intentioned organizations and donors who desire to see more people engage in our civic process.
Equal Ground recognizes the deep history of racist and suppressive tactics used in this country to disenfranchise Black voters from participating in the electoral process, and the creation of an elections police department is a solution to a problem that does not exist. We already have safeguards in place to investigate and prosecute those who violate our election laws, and in a state that prides itself on fiscal responsibility, this new elections police force is a waste of tax dollars. Our political atmosphere has become so polarized and divisive, and we at Equal Ground have genuine concerns that this new agency will be weaponized to attack political enemies and divert attention and resources from the real work of making voting more accessible to those who desire to participate in the democratic process. With voting being the cornerstone of our democracy, we cannot in good conscience support any effort that will lead to voters being removed from the voting rolls if they don’t vote within a certain time frame. As Americans, there is no expiration to our citizenship and as such, there should be no expiration to the most sacred right we have in a democracy – and that is the right to vote.
Our democracy is at stake and we, as voters and Americans who believe in our democracy, must be unified in condemning these repeated attempts to impede on our ability to be civically engaged.”