Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is pushing for an unprecedented move that would make the state the first to create a separate police force allowed to arrest voters.
DeSantis announced the proposal after state legislators returned to session. He is proposing the creation of an Office of Election Crimes and Security that would give this agency the power to investigate elections and apprehend people accused of violating election laws, according to The Washington Post.
Ironically, DeSantis proposed this $5.7 million budget, which would employ 45 agents, not long after complaining frequently and vehemently about inflation and the cost of regular household items.
According to the newspaper, the percentage of election fraud incidences doesn’t justify the governor’s proposed police force. No other state in the nation has such an agency.
“There’s a reason that there’s no office of this size with this kind of unlimited investigative authority in any other state in the country, and it’s because election crimes and voter fraud are just not a problem of that magnitude,” voting rights lawyer Jonathan Diaz explained to The Washington Post.
