Florida Republicans Consider New Election Bill That Would Effectively Ban Voters From Watering

Florida Republicans are considering a bill that makes it a crime to give voters food or drink, including water, within 150 feet of polling stations.

State law currently prohibits campaigning within 100 feet of polling stations, but an election bill introduced last week, HB 7041, extends that area to 150 feet and includes a ban on giving away “any object.” To voters or to “interact or attempt to interact” with voters in that area.

State Representative Blaise Ingoglia, a Republican from Spring Hill, told a committee meeting last Monday that the ban would include “food or drink.”

The proposal is similar to a measure in Georgia’s sweeping new election law that bans giving water, food or gifts to voters in line, among many other restrictions. President Joe Biden, in condemning Georgian law as “scandalous” and “Jim Crow in the 21st century,” called the provision evidence of repressive intent in a state he has turned blue for the first time in decades. .

“If you want an indication that it has nothing to do with fairness, nothing to do with decency, they pass a law saying you can’t provide water to people in line while waiting to vote, “he said on Friday. .

Georgia Republicans have said the state’s election laws need to be tightened to improve voter confidence.

For years, campaigns and other groups have distributed water, dispatched food trucks, and delivered pizza to voters who lined up to vote. Amid a nationwide effort by Republican lawmakers to tighten election laws following an election lost by their candidate, the practice has come under fire.

Former President Donald Trump’s relentless lie about a stolen election has inspired an avalanche of bills across the country, as GOP lawmakers across the country seek to add restrictions on postal voting and voting. other electoral practices. Clearly, the 2020 election was safe and the results accurate. Trump’s own attorney general William Barr said there was no evidence of widespread electoral fraud and that the president’s legal efforts to overturn the results failed in courtrooms across the country.

HB 7041, which was recommended by an electoral committee last Wednesday in a party sense, is 44 pages long and contains a number of other electoral restrictions. This would force voters to request postal ballots more frequently, add more identification requirements for postal voting, and limit the use of drop boxes.

It is one of a series of election-related bills currently under consideration by the state’s GOP-controlled legislature. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican, pleaded for new postal voting restrictions last month.

Introducing the bill last week, Ingoglia said the 2020 Florida election was a success but the system could still be improved.

“We should never rest on our laurels and we should never miss an opportunity to improve a good thing,” he said.