Iran Press/ America: The restrictions include voter ID requirements for those requesting to vote by mail or register to vote, and the need for voters to request mail-in ballots for each election cycle, rather than the two-cycle rule in place until now.
The bill, passed by the state’s House of Representatives and the Senate on Thursday, has now landed on the desk of GOP Governor Ron DeSantis, with the governor already promising to sign it and suggesting it would make his state’s elections “even better.” No Democrats voted for the bill in either chamber, with one Republican voting against his party.
Along with mail-in ballots, the bill targets ballot drop boxes, which attracted controversy last year after Trump posted a video showing election personnel casually collecting seemingly unsecure ballots the day after the election. Under the new legislation, Florida’s ballot drop box sites will now be placed only at the offices of election supervisors, supervisor branch offices, and early voting stations, while the times during which they are accessible will be limited. An earlier version of the bill even proposed the banning of drop boxes altogether, but was later amended.
The bill also enhances the powers of poll watcher volunteers, forces those “engaging in any activity with the intent to influence voters” to stay at least 150 feet away from ballot boxes, and institutes new rules for election-related lawsuits. What's more, it bars officials from accepting any outside cash for almost all election-related expenses.
The legislation cuts access to drop boxes by limiting their use to early voting hours unless they are located at election supervisors' offices. All drop boxes must always be staffed in person by election supervisors' office workers if they are in use. The bill also requires supervisors to set and publish drop box locations 30 days before the election. Those locations cannot be moved for any purpose.
Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis said on Fox News Thursday night that he will "for sure" sign the bill."We've had voter ID. It works. It's the right thing to do," DeSantis said, adding that Florida's 2020 election was "fair and transparent, and the reforms we have coming will make it even better."The bill is part of a Republican-led effort nationwide to restrict voting access at the state level in the wake of record turnout in last November's elections.
A tally by the left-leaning Brennan Center for Justice at New York University found that 361 bills with provisions that restrict voting had been introduced in 47 states as of March 24.
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