A new police force has been created in Florida solely focused on pursuing voter fraud and other election crimes, something heavily discussed following the 2020 election.
The bill creating the police force was signed into law on Monday by Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has made voting legislation a primary focus throughout the past year.
DeSantis is currently running for reelection while also being discussed as a potential presidential candidate in 2024.
While signing the bill on Monday, DeSantis said that the state needs the law enforcement unit because existing law enforcement isn't equipped or willing to investigate election fraud cases thoroughly.
"Some of them may not care as much about the election stuff. I think it's been mixed at how those reactions are going to be,” DeSantis said. “So we just want to make sure whatever laws are on the books, that those laws are enforced.”
An Office of Election Crimes and Security will now be created under the Florida Department of State. It will work to review fraud allegations, conduct preliminary investigations, and have a group of special officers appointed to it by the governor himself.
The law will require the sitting Florida governor to appoint investigators to look into election law violations, whereas before, it was just an option.
Republicans have worked to pass voter fraud legislation following the claims of former President Donald Trump that the 2020 election was stolen from him.
Despite the growing rhetoric, an investigation from the Associated Press found that there were fewer than 475 potential cases of voter fraud in 2020, out of 25.5 million ballots cast in the six states Trump claimed experienced "widespread fraud."
On top of creating a new division of law enforcement, the bill DeSantis signed will also increase penalties for the collection of completed ballots by a third party to a felony, raise fines for certain violations and require election supervisors to perform voter list maintenance more frequently.
The bill was criticized by Democratic state lawmakers, like Rep. Tracie Davis, who are saying the governor is only doing it to help his own potential presidential run.
"DeSantis' so-called election reform legislation is a continued attack by the Republican Party to generate public distrust in the integrity of our elections,” Davis said. “The bill is unnecessary and a waste of taxpayer funds.”
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