A former federal prosecutor who now serves as a Florida State Attorney is criticizing GOP Governor Ron DeSantis‘ proposed “election crimes” agency, largely because there has been scant evidence of election or voter fraud in the Sunshine State – not to mention across the country.
DeSantis, who is expected to run for President in 2024, has asked state lawmakers for $6 million to create the Office of Election Crime and Security.
There is barely any voter fraud in Florida. Recent reports found four senior citizens in a Trump-supporting retirement community in that state have been arrested for alleged voter fraud.
The Florida Division of Elections says pursuant to state law, “the Department of State has authority to conduct preliminary investigations into any allegations of irregularities or fraud involving voter registration or voting, or candidate or issue petition activities. The Department may then report its findings to the Office of Statewide Prosecution or to the State Attorney.”
“Nonetheless,” The Guardian reports, “DeSantis, who has also proposed his own militia, wants state lawmakers to allocate nearly $6m to fund an Office of Election Crime and Security, which would have 52 staffers, including 45 investigators.”
The proposed office would have more investigators than law enforcement agencies in some of Florida’s biggest cities have to investigate murders, the Tampa Bay Times reported.
DeSantis himself, the day after the 2020 election in which Donald Trump lost, said: “The way Florida did it, I think, inspires confidence. I think that’s how elections should be run.”
Florida State Attorney Andrew Warren, the top prosecutor in Hillsborough county, told The Guardian in two decades his office received just four referrals for election-related crimes.
“This is a solution in search of a problem,” Warren added. “It’s a really expensive one at that. This is a $6m door prize for a QAnon pep rally.”
Staffers in the proposed “election crimes” office will “sit around and wait for the phone to ring. That’s a lot of time watching Netflix and playing Candy Crush on the taxpayer dollar.”