Governor Ron DeSantis Strengthens Florida’s Democratic Process with Senate Bill 524
- BY FGA
NAPLES, FL—Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed Senate Bill 524 (SB 524) into law yesterday, ensuring that future Florida elections are protected by commonsense reforms. Florida has led the nation in election integrity, and by taking further steps to bring security and transparency to elections, Gov. DeSantis has strengthened the democratic process.
SB 524 includes provisions that:
- Establish an Office of Election Crimes and Security within the Florida Department of State to investigate and refer matters for prosecution against alleged occurrences of election law violations or irregularities;
- move toward ID requirements for absentee vote-by-mail ballots;
- prohibit ranked-choice voting;
- clean voter rolls;
- create harsher penalties for ballot harvesters;
- discourage non-citizen voting, illegal signature collection practices for ballot initiative petitions, and premature disclosure(s) of election results; and
- strengthen last year’s ban to prohibit private funding of elections (Zuckerbucks ban).
“Enacting laws that inspire confidence in secure elections increases voter turnout and participation. Regardless of what detractors of the bill say, Gov. DeSantis has a proven commitment to strengthening Florida’s democratic process,” said Tarren Bragdon, CEO of the Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA). “By signing SB 524 into law, Gov. DeSantis is showing Floridian voters that they can be confident that their vote counts in the state’s elections.”
Last year, Florida passed Senate Bill 90, which enforces voter ID, prevents ballot harvesting, secures drop boxes, prohibits the private funding of elections, and helps ensure that voter rolls are up to date and accurate for each election.
FGA applauds Florida for leading the nation in protecting the democratic process with SB 524. This legislation is another example of what states can do to secure their elections and protect voters’ voices.
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The Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA) is a non-profit, multi-state think tank that promotes public policy solutions to create opportunities for every American to experience the American Dream. To learn more, visit TheFGA.org.
