TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Two weeks after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state’s top election officials stood in a Broward County courtroom and announced the arrest of 20 people for voting illegally, the state’s case is starting to fall apart.
The announcement was the first initiative of the governor’s Office of Election Crimes and Security, and it targeted people disqualified from voting because they’ve been convicted of murder or sexual assault. “They’re going to pay the price for it,’’ the governor promised.
But in the face of a stream of conflicting messages coming from the governor and state elections officials and the prospect of no immediate fix to the state’s confusing system for felons to regain their voting rights, advocates are urging those arrested to fight the charges. The Senate sponsor of the legislation that implemented the felons voting law has concluded that “now a million-dollar operation” of the Office of Elections Crimes and Security may ultimately produce no convictions.
