{"id":1917338,"date":"2023-04-20T22:11:25","date_gmt":"2023-04-21T02:11:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/why-is-a-gop-controlled-florida-committee-working-to-gut-an-election-integrity-bill\/"},"modified":"2023-04-20T22:11:35","modified_gmt":"2023-04-21T02:11:35","slug":"why-is-a-gop-controlled-florida-committee-working-to-gut-an-election-integrity-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/why-is-a-gop-controlled-florida-committee-working-to-gut-an-election-integrity-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Is A GOP-Controlled Florida Committee Working To Gut An Election Integrity Bill?"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwhy-is-a-gop-controlled-florida-committee-working-to-gut-an-election-integrity-bill%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1917338&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div class=\"article-content\">\n<p>A Republican-controlled Florida Senate Committee is on the cusp of potentially nuking key provisions from an elections bill that would enhance the integrity of the state\u2019s elections.<\/p>\n<p>On Wednesday, the Senate Fiscal Policy Committee filed a substitute to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flsenate.gov\/Session\/Bill\/2023\/7050\/?Tab=PCS\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">SB 7050<\/a> that includes numerous changes to the original version of the proposed law. As <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flsenate.gov\/Session\/Bill\/2023\/7050\/BillText\/Filed\/PDF\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">originally written<\/a>, SB 7050 would expand the power of the state\u2019s Office of Election Crimes and Security to review and conduct preliminary investigations into \u201cany alleged election irregularity,\u201d as well as \u201cmake referrals for further legal action\u201d to the Office of Statewide Prosecution, the Department of Law Enforcement, and the \u201cstate attorney with jurisdiction over the matter.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2-long d-flex justify-content-center\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; \" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-43138136\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1379703300879-0\" class=\"mb-30\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div  class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-7b4f1be23edff5a7ff9aef886a90e01f fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-7b4f1be23edff5a7ff9aef886a90e01f\"><\/div>\n<p>\u201cThe statewide prosecutor receiving a complaint referred by the office shall investigate the complaint promptly and thoroughly, undertake any related criminal action as justified by law, and report to the office the results of any such investigation, any related action taken, and the final disposition of the complaint,\u201d the bill reads.<\/p>\n<p>Launched last year, the Office of Election Crimes and Security was <a href=\"https:\/\/dr.flgov.com\/2022\/04\/25\/governor-ron-desantis-signs-bill-to-strengthen-floridas-election-integrity\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">created<\/a> to \u201cinvestigate election law violations\u201d throughout the state. While the aforementioned provisions would provide Florida officials with greater oversight in ensuring election laws are being followed, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flsenate.gov\/Committees\/Show\/FP?pref=full\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Republican-controlled<\/a> Senate Fiscal Policy Committee\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flsenate.gov\/Session\/Bill\/2023\/7050\/?Tab=PCS\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">proposed<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flsenate.gov\/Session\/Bill\/2023\/7050\/Amendment\/880856\/PDF\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">substitute bill<\/a> omits such changes.<\/p>\n<p>The proposed committee substitute for SB 7050 also doesn\u2019t incorporate a key provision from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flsenate.gov\/Session\/Bill\/2023\/7050\/BillText\/Filed\/PDF\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">original version<\/a> that would have required individuals registering to vote for the first time in Florida and who the state \u201chas verified has not been issued a social security number, a current and valid Florida driver license, or a current and valid Florida identification card\u201d to vote \u201cin person the first time [he or she] votes in [Florida].\u201d The provision includes exceptions for those permitted to vote absentee as specified by federal law.<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, the substitute bill also limits the ability of citizens to submit official information regarding potentially ineligible voters. While the original version allows election supervisors to act upon \u201cany official information\u201d from \u201cany source\u201d identifying a registered voter as potentially ineligible,\u201d the substitute limits the supervisor to act on such information only if it is provided by a \u201cgovernmental entity.\u201d<\/p>\n<div  class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-15d184215b8b0e5a730389d771596e61 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-6\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-15d184215b8b0e5a730389d771596e61\"><\/div>\n<p>While the proposed substitute bill carries over important changes from the original version, it simultaneously delays their implementation for several years. Both versions of SB 7050, for example, stipulate that the registration of third-party voter registration organizations \u201cautomatically expires at the conclusion of the specific general election cycle for which the third-party voter registration organization is registered,\u201d meaning said groups would have to re-register for every general election. If passed and signed into law, such changes under the original version would take effect on July 1. Under the substitute version, however, said provisions would not take effect until Jan. 1, 2025.<\/p>\n<p>Other changes to how third-party voter registration organizations can operate in elections would also be subject to the aforementioned enaction dates.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe hope that the final version of the bill will include a requirement for first time voters to vote in person if they have not shown top tier ID when registering, and efforts to clean up the voter rolls will include meaningful input from citizens with credible written documentation,\u201d Wendy Nissan and Elizabeth Butler, co-directors of the Florida Fair Elections Coalition, told The Federalist. \u201cWe support the requirements that all third-party voter registration organizations turn their registrations in on time and these changes become effective immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Senate Fiscal Policy Committee is expected to vote on the substitute version of SB 7050 on Thursday, according to Nissan. A similar bill (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.myfloridahouse.gov\/Sections\/Bills\/billsdetail.aspx?BillId=78568\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">HB 7067<\/a>) to SB 7050 was reported favorably by the House State Affairs Committee on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<div  class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-a95c004bd9b154a2f31910813b7f6926 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-10\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-a95c004bd9b154a2f31910813b7f6926\"><\/div>\n<p>While far from perfect, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flsenate.gov\/Session\/Bill\/2023\/7050\/Amendment\/880856\/PDF\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">substitute bill<\/a> does improve upon the original by scrapping language that plays into Democrats\u2019 phony \u201celection officials are under attack\u201d narrative. Despite already being illegal under <a href=\"https:\/\/crsreports.congress.gov\/product\/pdf\/LSB\/LSB10781\/2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">federal law<\/a>, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flsenate.gov\/Session\/Bill\/2023\/7050\/BillText\/Filed\/PDF\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">original bill<\/a> includes a provision criminalizing attempts to \u201cintimidate, threaten, coerce, or harass an election worker with the intent to impede or interfere with the performance of the election worker\u2019s official duties.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the weeks leading up to the 2022 midterms, left-wing activists masquerading as \u201cjournalists\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/10\/27\/new-dem-conspiracy-theory-just-dropped-poll-watchers-are-a-threat-to-democracy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">published hit piece after hit piece<\/a> warning that Republican \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/08\/22\/the-election-denier-smear-is-the-dumbest-rhetorical-device-in-modern-politics\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">election deniers<\/a>\u201d were plotting to disrupt local election precincts on Election Day by threatening election workers and intimidating voters. Like most other media-manufactured narratives, the tale\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/11\/14\/we-need-to-talk-about-what-didnt-happen-on-election-day\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">never came true<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The office of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis did not respond to The Federalist\u2019s request for comment on whether DeSantis supports either version of SB 7050 in its current forms. Additionally, the office of Fiscal Policy Committee chair and Republican Sen. Travis Hutson did not respond to The Federalist\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n<div  class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-616b495f4b9955481ba359ba084db517 fdrlst__b89e9-after-post-content\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-616b495f4b9955481ba359ba084db517\"><\/div>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">\n<div class=\"article-author-description fst-italic\">   Shawn Fleetwood is a Staff Writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He also serves as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-tags bdr-top-black mt-30 mt-sm-60 pt-15 pt-md-45\">\n<ul class=\"list-unstyled d-flex flex-wrap align-items-center mb-0 mx-n10 p-0\">\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/elections\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Elections<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/elections-bill\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Elections Bill<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/florida\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Florida<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/florida-fair-elections-coalition\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Florida Fair Elections Coalition<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/florida-legislature\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Florida Legislature<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/florida-republicans\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Florida Republicans<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/third-parties\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">third parties<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/voter-id\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">voter ID<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/voter-intimidation\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">voter intimidation<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/voter-registration\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">voter registration<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/voter-registration-groups\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">voter registration groups<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/voting\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">voting<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Republican-controlled Florida Senate Committee is on the cusp of potentially nuking key provisions from an elections bill that would enhance the integrity of the state\u2019s elections. On Wednesday, the Senate Fiscal Policy Committee filed a substitute to SB 7050 that includes numerous changes to the original version of the proposed law. As originally written<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":539,"featured_media":1917339,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[3895,4384,3728,5113,12189,12923,6983],"class_list":["post-1917338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","tag-bill","tag-committee","tag-election","tag-florida","tag-gop-controlled","tag-gut","tag-integrity"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1917338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/539"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1917338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1917338\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1917339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1917338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1917338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1917338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}