Florida Gov Ron Desantis signs elections bill aimed at curtailing voter fraud and ballot harvesting

Florida Governor Ron Desantis signed a bill on Monday, that would create an office of Election Crimes and Security for the state. Republicans have called for similar measures since the 2020 elections that saw Joe Biden receive 81 million votes.

An excerpt from the bill:

"Election Administration; Requiring the Secretary of State to notify the Attorney General if signatures required for an initiative petition are no longer valid; creating the Office of Election Crimes and Security within the Department of State; revising the frequency with which supervisors of elections must conduct a registration list maintenance program; requiring the Department of State to identify deceased registered voters using information received by specified agencies; requiring specified individuals observing the ballot duplication process to sign a specified affidavit acknowledging certain criminal penalties, etc."

The Office of Election crimes will set out to govern the prohibition on the solicitation, acceptance, use, and disposal of private funds for certain election-related expenses. The bill will also look to hold third-party registration organizations accountable, "specifying that a third-party voter registration organization is liable for a certain fine if a person collecting voter registration applications on its behalf is convicted of unlawfully altering any application" The bill will also require the Department of state to identify deceased registered voters.

The use of Ranked-choice voting is outlawed in the bill. The Bill will require the Governor, in consultation with the executive director of the Department of Law Enforcement, to appoint 107 special officers to investigate election law violations; specifying requirements for such special officers

At the presser, for the signing of this bill, DeSantis also mentioned Florida's Employee Pension Program telling Twitter shareholders in a letter encouraging them to accept Musk's bid. Saying it should not be over politics and the board members should act in the shareholder's best interest. Moments later he announced to the crowd in Spring Hill that the deal was to become official.

Sources	Article title
Fox Illinois	DeSantis signs bill creating election police in Florida
Florida Senate	Florida Senate Bill 524