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Politics

Florida Sends Federal Election Monitors Packing, Says Law Doesn't Allow Them

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Florida has quickly become a state obsessed with both freedom and states’ rights, and that has catapulted Governor Ron DeSantis into the national spotlight in a hurry.

DeSantis, who rose to fame by publicly and politically obliterating mask mandates and lockdown theories during the COVID-19 pandemic, has also taken aim at the Biden administration in a number of ways, including this week when he sent federal elections monitors away from Florida polling places.

The Florida Department of State is rejecting the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) plan to send federal election “monitors” to certain counties across the country, including three in the Sunshine State, advising the department that federal monitors are “not permitted under Florida law.”

“Earlier today, the Florida Department of State received copies of your letters to Miami-Dade and Broward Counties in which you seem to indicate that the Department of Justice will send monitors inside polling place sin these counties. We also understand you sent a similar letter to Palm Beach County,” the Florida Department of State letter begins.

“But Department of Justice monitors are not permitted under Florida law,” the letter continues, detailing the section of the Florida Statues that describes who “may enter any polling room or poling place” and noting that DOJ personnel “are not included on the list.”

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The state would need “evidence concerning the need for federal intrusion, or some federal statute that preempts Florida law.” Ultimately, the state concludes that “the presence of federal law enforcement inside polling places would be counterproductive and could potentially undermine confidence in the election.”

And also:

“Your letters simply provide a non-exhaustive list of federal elections statutes as the basis for this action without pointing to any specific statutory authorization,” the letter adds, noting that the John “Bert” Ross, Deputy Chief & Elections Coordinator, failed to provide any specific authorization during a prior phone call.

“Accordingly, the Florida Department of State invokes its authority under action 101.58(2) of the Florida Statues to send its own monitors to the three targeted jurisdictions,” it continues, adding that those monitors “will ensure that there is no interference with the voting process”.

A vast number of Americans have expressed concerns about election integrity in recent years, and DeSantis’ play here could be signaling to worried Floridians that he’d prefer to secure the vote himself.

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About the Author:
As a lifelong advocate for the dream promised us in the Constitution, Andrew West has spent his years authoring lush prose editorial dirges regarding America's fall from grace and her path back to prosperity. When West isn't railing against the offensive whims of the mainstream media or the ideological cruelty that is so rampant in the US, he spends his time seeking adventurous new food and fermented beverages, with the occasional round of golf peppered in.




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