DeSantis' proposed election police force alarms voting rights advocates

[Nevilledog]

https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/19/politics/ron-desantis-pushes-election-police-force/index.html

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DeSantis' proposal represents "an escalation in the broader attempt to sow doubt in the integrity of our elections," said Wendy Weiser, vice president of democracy at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University's law school. It's unusual, she added, because "in the American system, we separate law enforcement functions from political functions."

The governor first announced the proposal in November as supporters of Donald Trump pushed for Republicans to investigate the former President's unfounded falsehoods about election fraud. Even in Florida, where Trump won by a historically wide margin, conservatives spent the fall knocking on doors in communities all over the state, hoping to find evidence of fraud that could convince leaders to conduct a review of the 2020 vote totals.

Trump ally Roger Stone, a Florida resident, threatened in October to run against DeSantis in 2022 if the governor didn't support an audit of the state's election.

DeSantis, widely considered a future GOP contender for president, has dismissed those demands as unnecessary in Florida, which he has said is a voting model for the country. Nevertheless, he has pushed for new voting measures that he said will prevent election fraud.

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