Republicans must stop voter-suppression tactics

Four months after I was sworn in as governor of Florida, I signed into law sweeping elections reforms that included making it easier to vote by mail.

Now, Gov. Ron DeSantis and his Republican allies in the Florida Legislature are determined to turn back the clock. They want to make it harder to vote by mail, because they apparently have concluded they have a better chance of winning re-election next year if fewer Floridians cast ballots.

These cynical voter suppression tactics are an assault on democracy, and they have a chilling effect on the right to vote. They do not reflect the Florida I love or the will of the people. All voters regardless of their political party affiliation should tell DeSantis and his colleagues to stop trying to make it harder for them to exercise their constitutional rights.

On the surface, the timing of the governor’s assault on mail ballots is curious.

While other states struggled to cope with a surge of mail ballots and early voting in November, Florida’s smooth election won national praise. The state’s voter turnout was the highest in 28 years, and there were no reports of any significant irregularities.

Dig a little deeper, and it’s obvious why DeSantis and his Republican colleagues want to change the law to require that voters request a mail ballot every year instead of having the request remain good through two general elections, as it is now. A record 4.9 million Floridians voted by mail in 2020, and Democrats cast 683,000 more mail ballots than Republicans. DeSantis doesn’t want that to happen again when he is on the ballot in 2022.

Making it harder to vote is a national Republican strategy. The Brennan Center for Justice reports three times as many bills to restrict voting access had been filed in state legislatures by the end of January compared to the previous year. In February, nine bills were filed in the Republican-controlled Legislature in Georgia that would make it harder to vote, including one that would eliminate early voting on the Sunday before an election, when there is a traditional push to get Black voters to the polls.

In Florida, DeSantis and Republican lawmakers are just following the party playbook. They want to require all voters wishing to cast mail ballots to sign up again, restrict the use of ballot drop-off boxes and make it harder to conduct independent voter registration drives. Like former President Donald Trump, they attempt to justify their voter suppression tactics by warning of voter fraud and election tampering with absolutely no evidence.

The reality is that Republicans in Tallahassee would make it harder for all sorts of everyday Floridians to cast ballots. Seniors and working folks who may have difficulty getting to the polls on Election Day. Young people, renters, minority residents and low-income families who may have transportation issues or difficulty dealing with new bureaucratic hurdles. And yes, Republicans as well as Democrats and no-party-affiliation voters.

Incumbent Republicans forget that Florida Republicans used to be better at getting mail ballots returned than Democrats. They ignore that even in 2020, more Republicans voted by mail than Democrats in more than 30 of Florida’s 67 counties. They are consumed with protecting their own political futures, even if that means making it harder for all Floridians to vote.

As governor in 2007, I signed into law election reforms that created a paper trail of ballots and made it easier to vote by mail, and I extended early voting hours to deal with long lines in 2008. As a private citizen, I testified before Congress in 2012 against changes to Florida law that reduced early voting days. Last year, I urged the state to extend the online voter registration deadline after a glitch caused the state’s website to be down hours before the deadline.

I will always stand up for all of the people and for making it as easy as possible for voters to cast ballots and make their voices heard. DeSantis and Republican lawmakers should stop trying to silence them by making it harder to vote. Why are they so afraid of so many of their fellow Floridians?