Photo: Alamy
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) slammed ballot counting processes in states like Arizona during a Thursday press conference in Hillsborough County.
“…You look around the country…they’ve been doing these elections in different parts this year – you have an election, and then you have votes coming in for days and days, and people don’t even know how many votes are out – it takes them forever to count,” DeSantis stated.
Most recently, the Arizona GOP gubernatorial primary election has been an ongoing process, with ballots being counted days after Election Day.
DeSantis additionally touted Florida’s commitment to election integrity, noting the recent establishment of an Election Integrity Unit, which will enable the state to “investigate” issues as they arise.
“In Florida, we’re very proud that we made ballot harvesting a felony in the State of Florida,” he said. “We’re very proud that we have voter ID not just for going in to vote in person but for requesting an absentee ballot. We’re very proud that we were able to have penalties for counties if they don’t clean their voter rolls every year.”
DeSantis further reminded the audience that his administration is proud to have banned “Zuckerbucks” from meddling in the state’s election processes. He added that their measures to secure the election were “good” but that the laws needed to be balanced with “accountability.”
“You cannot put drop boxes in the middle of the community in Florida anymore,” DeSantis continued. “…If someone wants to return an absentee ballot, they can drop it off at an election site, but wherever they’re putting in a ballot needs to be monitored by an election official.”
DeSantis also poked a stick at the endless ballot-counting procedures that have gone on in other states throughout the midterm season. “It’s [an] opaque process – we don’t believe in that in Florida. We believe that it’s gotta be transparent,” he said. “We believe you count the votes and you declare a winner on election night.”
Gov. DeSantis concluded, “It’s not that difficult to do…We’re one of the biggest states and we’re able to – why can’t some of these other states do it?”
