Florida Gov. DeSantis Signs Bill To Form Election Police Force

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill Monday that will create a state police force to investigate voter fraud and other election crimes, as Republicans nationwide fixate on voter fraud following former President Donald Trump's claims that the 2020 election was stolen.

The Office of Election Crimes and Security will conduct investigations of alleged voter fraud without the help of local prosecutors.

According to CNN, state Rep. Daniel Perez said the plan would cost $3.7 million.

The bill increases the punishment for ballot-harvesting and requires election officials to conduct more frequent maintenance of voter lists.

The bill was approved by the state House five days after it was passed by the Senate.

Republicans in many states have made election law a priority over the last year, partly because of Trump's false claims that his 2020 election loss was driven by widespread vote-rigging. The best-run election in the state's history was called by the governor, but he has not commented on whether the election was rigged. As part of a broad push to emphasize election integrity, Georgia gubernatorial candidate David Perdue is one of several Republican officials to propose more stringent investigations into voter fraud.

Big Number

75. More than 11 million votes were cast in the 2020 election, but the Florida Department of State referred to law enforcement or prosecuting authorities for voter fraud in 2020. There was no evidence of fraud, manipulation or uncorrected error in the 2020 presidential election, according to an analysis by the non-profit MITRE Corporation.

The idea of a dedicated election police force was deemed a waste of taxpayer money by an opinion columnist.

If Trump doesn't seek the Republican nomination, he could be a top contender. According to CBS, a poll of attendees at the Conservative Political Action Conference in February found that if Trump doesn't run, the preferred candidate would be Ron DeSantis, who received 28% of the vote.