It should go without saying they are committing Jim Crow FRAUD to keep voters away, but that's simply GOP history repeating itself over and over and over.
I have to say that I just listened to Dennis Baxley, not exactly my favorite legislator, introduced the bill in the Florida Senate. He had a much better political message. Instead of talking about fraud, he just said that we made exceptions to normal security last year because of Covid that we had to implement quickly, which was the right thing to do, and we want to keep them (drop boxes, increased VBM), but now we have to make sure that the new methods are safe. Mind you, I don't think any of that is the truth, but it was far better message than the one that has been used so far, to the effect of "there may be no fraud, but our crazed voters believed there was, so we have to do something", or words to that effect.
I appreciate your clarification HOWEVER after the last 4 years whatever comes out of a GOP political mouth I consider the OPPOSITE. He is just giving you window dressing, I ASSURE YOU that in those smokey backrooms there is one thing and one thing only going on: GOP to GOP - How in the hell are we going to stay in power? Our demographics (White Voters) are quickly being replaced with minorities, women and people of color. Answer: Well we must stop them the way we always have, if they don't vote their shit doesn't count............. Exactly..........write the bills to keep them out......... Not a damn thing new here other than the language. IMHO
Don't get me wrong. I don't believe a word he says. Especially Baxley. I was just noting that they've gotten a little bit smarter in their messaging. It's pure voter suppression, nothing more. Its not as expansive as Georgia, because they don't feel the need to go as far. They probably feel they could win without it, because they have won lately, and the margin has been increasing. But there's always worry about future demographic change. Georgia was different. In Georgia, they had to make sure that they suppress enough votes to change outcomes, even if things are trending away
Tampa Representative Fentrice Driskell, a future star, analogized this bill to a program to address the threat presented by the Chupacabra. People may be scared though there is no evidence the source of fear actually exists
Some years ago there was a spate of goats being killed in a heavily Hispanic area of central FL. I was told by several residents it was the work of the “Chupacabra” and to be feared. One even had a professor buddy from SA somewhere call to inform me we were dealing with classic Chupacabra depredations. Eventually, when I caught the Chupacabra, it looked, felt, and smelt a lot like an Ocala Forest bear and the goat murders stopped.
The Netflix short series "Sasquatch" is about (well, partly) how OG weed farmers in NorCal use Bigfoot to scare locals into compliance. There is enough belief as to make that tactic effective. And it may have started when the original targets of the plot, Mexican "laborers", were thought to be so silly they'd fall for Chupacabra stories. As it turns out, they and the rest of NorCal were so silly as to fall for Bigfoot stories, up to and including today. And to make this relevant, I would imagine the "Bigfoot" and "Stolen Election" circles on the Venn diagram are nearly identical.
Ha! Bears are ursids- at least most of them and all of the ones I’ve touched. There is an evolutionary relic in SA - Spectacled Bear that is Tremarctos something. I just love bears. I owe them a lot.
Lest anyone fail to appreciate how fired up some disturbed types are abut the "stolen election, these actions were filed pro se yesterday The United States Of America ex rel; Real Republican Party; County Congress Of Florida; Charlotte County Congress; Charlotte County Assembly; United States County Congress; United Counties Of America; Palm Beach County Assembly; Paul L. Nally; Michael A. Zarzano; Cynthia D. Compton; George Denisco; Kimberly Hoechstetter v. Donald Durant 4/26/2021 2:21 mc 15 Steele (Ft. Myers) Civil rights. CNS Plus Download Pro se The United States Of America ex rel; Real Republican Party; County Congress Of Florida; Charlotte County Congress; Charlotte County Assembly; United States County Congress; United Counties Of America; Palm Beach County Assembly; Paul L. Nally; Michael A. Zarzano; Cynthia D. Compton; George Denisco; Kimberly Hoechstetter v. Kent F. Peed 4/23/2021 2:21 mc 16 Polster Chappell (Ft. Myers) Civil rights. CNS Plus Download Pro se The United States Of America ex rel; Real Republican Party; County Congress Of Florida; Charlotte County Congress; Charlotte County Assembly; United States County Congress; United Counties Of America; Palm Beach County Assembly; Paul L. Nally; Michael A. Zarzano; Cynthia D. Compton; George Denisco; Kimberly Hoechstetter v. Cynthia Langford 4/26/2021 2:21 mc 17 Steele (Ft. Myers) Civil rights. CNS Plus Download Pro se Donald W. Hackett Jr. v. Democrat National Committee; Republican National Committee; Federal Election Commission; Judge Kovocavich Opinion 1202-T-M EAJ; Federal Election Law 1971 4/28/2021 8:21 cv 1011 Merryday (Tampa) Civil rights. CNS Plus Download Pro se I downloaded one. I can't C&P, but they are complaining about the rampant illegality in the voting tabulation that made Biden President
From what I can surmise the fill that passed ha nothing to do with water so if some one wants to enlighten me on the subject feel free to do so. CS/CS/CS/SB 90: Election Administration - S 90 e1 CS for CS for CS for SB 90 Water isn't even mentioned in the bill unless this is what people are objecting to starting at line 957. In the document 150 feet becomes the law versus 100 feet which is stricken out. As far as snacks / water etc... bring your own. From my assessment the bill appears to be reasonable and strengthens requirements for voter registration (specifically online voter registration), security and audit purposes along with fines for infractions of the law committed by public officials and third party actors.
Florida ranked 15th out of 50 states in percent of registered voters who voted in 2020. I think if you couple that stat along with the lack contentious issues on election day along with prompt result reporting, it seems we (FL) did very well all around with voting. The bill that passed seems to have been stripped of many of the questionable features.
Given that Florida's elections since 2000 have been fairly well-run with no hint of fraud, it seems like a solution in search of a problem - maybe political posturing and something for DeSantis to put on his political resume for 2024.
So why "reform" it, unless you think the incremental changes will favor one side, which is the case here. That's the ONLY reason this is being passed
After reading the law I don't see how it favors any side as everyone is subject the law. I do see how it protects the voters and the integrity of the vote
You have less faith in the competency of ALEC and the Florida Legislature than I do, and more faith in their good motives
And if you want to see how laws of general applicability favor one side (apart from the historical examples like a poll tax), look at Justice Kagan's questioning during oral argument of the Arizona case that the that teh High Court will soon rule to assert judicial supremacy over Congress attempt to enforce voting equality through the VRA, notwithstanding the 15th Section 1 The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. Section 2 The Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. Section 2 will now be amended to read in actual application (additions in underline): The Congress, subject to the supremacy of John Roberts' personal opinion, shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation, so long as it does not result in too much equality, such that Republicans have a hard time winning elections with their current message. Returning to Justice Kagan questioning the argument that a generally applicable requirement could not be viewed as burdening voting rights Elena Kagan Questioning of Arizona Republican Lawyer May Save Voting Rights Act KAGAN: So the first one is that the state decides that each county can have one poll place, and because of who lives in larger counties, that creates a disparate impact that black voters have to wait in line for 10 times the amount that white voters do, two-and-a-half hours instead of 15 minutes. Is that system equally open in the language of the statute? CARVIN: I would think not. "Equally open" means takes into account demographic reality. If you have one polling place for five people and one polling place for 5 million people, obviously, in the latter situation, those people do not have an equal opportunity to vote. So, no… KAGAN: Okay. How about -- how about this one? A state has long had two weeks of early voting, and then the state decides that it's going to get rid of Sunday voting on those two weeks, leave everything else in place. That -- black voters vote on Sunday 10 times more than white voters. Is -- is that system equally open? Let the floundering begin! CARVIN: I would think it would be because, let's think about it, Sunday is the day that we traditionally close government offices. KAGAN: It's a -- you know, it's an exception --to have government workers come in on a Saturday too. That's not -- that's not a real problem. This line of questioning really pissed off Kavanaugh because he's the type of guy who would've signed off on that "logic" before it was exposed. But I doubt hat will stop them - the need to suppress is too important to be restrained by logic or principle
