The New Jim Crow: DeSantis Voter Suppression on Full Display in Florida
Gov. Ron DeSantis’s cynical use of human targets to score political points is back in the headlines after the Tampa Bay Times on Tuesday aired newly released video from the body cams of arresting officers. In the footage, captured on August 17, 2022, DeSantis’s newly created and cynically titled “Office of Election Crimes and Integrity” had police fan out across certain Democratic strongholds and arrest 20 persons who had “illegally” voted after serving out their jail sentences and being released from custody.
“I voted, but I ain’t commit no fraud,” a woman named Romona Oliver can be heard saying on the videos. “I got out. The guy told me that I was free and clear to go vote or whatever because I had done my time.”
Oliver’s attorney says she received a voter registration card and believed she was eligible to vote. “She was twice told by the State of Florida and the local Supervisor of Elections, ‘Here’s your voter registration card. You are, as far as we’re concerned, legally eligible to vote.’ And so she voted and she was shocked when she was arrested. Oliver “thought her rights had been restored by the amendment,” her attorney added. “She didn’t know any different. And the State of Florida, she believed, was telling her that she was eligible to vote. And now she’s had the rug pulled out from under her. She never would have voted if she knew that she was ineligible.”
Even the arresting officers appeared hesitant and apologetic for what they were doing, indicating they understood that a grave injustice and misuse of the process was underway. They told Oliver that that they “understand” why she’s been caught off guard and reassured her that she would be released on her own recognizance after her booking. “I don't know exactly what happened with it, but you do have a warrant and that's what it’s for," one officer said. “I’m like, what the hell,” Oliver said, to which another officer replied, “I know, I know.”
What’s Really Going On
The ostensible reason for the arrests was that those convicted of certain felonies, such as murder or certain sexual offenses, remain ineligible to vote even after Florida passed a constitutional amendment restoring the franchise to some one million released felons. But the real reason, say DeSantis critics, was so that the very next day the Florida Governor could hold a splashy press conference announcing the arrests. “If there are certain rules and regulations in place, if people don’t think that those are going to be enforced, you’re going to have more violations,” DeSantis declared. “That’s just the way it goes.”
That announcement, however, was made just five days before the Florida primaries. Gov. DeSantis’s opponent Charlie Crist denounced the footage, arguing that it was intended to send a message to voters, especially voters of color, and to intimidate them into not exercising their rights out of fear of reprisal—precisely the kind of fear deployed during the Jim Crow era of Black suppression in the South.
“When there were people who voted twice in The Villages, a retirement community, he did not do a press conference there,” said Andrea Mercado, who is executive director of Florida Rising, a progressive grassroots political coalition. “This is all part of his campaign for governor and ultimately for his presidential ambitions,” she added. “Broward County is the Blackest county in the state, and the bluest. He’s chasing down these very rare cases to make an example and legitimize his crackdown.”
So Will These Poor People Really Go to Jail?
One of the most infuriating things for civil rights advocates is the apparent innocence of those arrested, notwithstanding DeSantis’s inflammatory rhetoric. “As convicted murderers and felony sex offenders, none of the individuals were eligible to vote,” DeSantis declared back in August. “They did not get their rights restored, and yet they went ahead and voted anyway. That is against the law, and now they’re going to pay the price for it.”
But this is a misstatement of the law and contrary to the facts of the cases of the 20 who were arrested. In 2018, Florida passed a constitutional amendment restoring the right to vote for felons who had served their time. That amendment had a carve out for those convicted of murder or certain sex crimes. But the implementing law included a specific intent component that requires that ineligible felons who erroneously vote are guilty only if they “willfully submit any false voter registration information.” The Republican author of that law, state Sen. Jeff Brandes, after viewing the Tampa Bay Times video, even tweeted out, “looks like the opposite of willingly.”
Moreover, it’s the responsibility of the Florida State Department and elections officials to affirmatively notify felons if they are ineligible to vote. Specifically, they are supposed to “identify those registered voters who have been convicted of a felony” and “notify the supervisor and provide a copy of the supporting documentation indicating the potential ineligibility of the voter to be registered.” That did not happen in these cases.
Instead, many of the arrestees were told the wrong information. For example, Romona Oliver was approached by someone registering Florida voters at a bus stop. Oliver informed that person she was a felon, but the individual said Oliver would not receive a voter registration card if she was ineligible. Oliver nevertheless received a card, then went to the DMV to register her new address and was even sent an updated voter registration card by the state with her new address on it. In other words, she was arrested for voting despite having been sent a voter registration card twice by the very department that was supposed to ensure she was notified of her ineligibility to vote.
Humans as Political Pawns
Because the charges are quite serious and carry possible sentences of up to five years, the arrests have once again upended the lives of the people swept up in DeSantis’s voter suppression drive. Critics point that that is yet another instance—whether it’s bashing on LGBTQ+ kids to stir up bigotry and fear among parents, kidnapping migrants through false promises and pretenses, or arresting people of color who innocently sought to exercise a fundamental right—where DeSantis has shown he is ready to unleash the power of the state on the most vulnerable in society in order to score political points and garner free media coverage.
In the minds of democracy activists, that is what makes DeSantis a certain more loathsome level of dangerous, a far more cunning and cruel would-be despot than even the former president. For those keeping tabs on the far-right in America, these are moves right out of the modern fascist playbook.
WTF is wrong with people and how do we combat this? We need more than a blue wave, we need a blue tsunami!
Jesus, take the wheel, because the devil is determined to send us to hell! These people were deliberately targeted for pure visual impact. They used white police officers to arrest people (the majority were people of color and I bet all were poor), who knew their past, questioned the actions of those registering them to vote; were lied to; processed through the registration process; then used to "prove" DeSantis is tough on voter fraud!
As long as we keep voting for people who do not have the interest or care for the majority, we will continue to keep in office dung piles and call them our leaders.