Florida lawmakers gift-wrapped the law and gave Gov. DeSantis Christmas in February | Opinion

When the Florida Legislature adjourned last Friday after its sixth special session during Ron DeSantis’ second term, it gave the governor some lovely parting gifts, mostly in the form of tweaks to legislation enacted in earlier special sessions.

Much of the media’s attention focused on changes in the law affecting the status of Disney World. Gov. DeSantis’ confrontation with the House of the Mouse plays well with his base, not only in Florida but on conservative talk shows with a national audience.

But overshadowed was a gift that, in the long run, may be even handier for DeSantis’ presidential ambitions: Lawmakers passed a bill giving the statewide prosecutor in the office of Attorney General Ashley Moody the explicit authority to bring charges against people who vote when they’re not eligible to do so.

In one sense, lawmakers were trying to prevent a recurrence of an embarrassing series of events that began with a press conference last August. DeSantis proudly announced that, thanks to the work of Florida’s new Office of Election Crimes and Security, 20 Floridians had been arrested for voting illegally.

That’s now a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. However, the states attorney in the various judicial circuits — perhaps busy with mass shootings and other more pressing matters — used their prosecutorial discretion and didn’t throw the book at those arrested.

In most of the cases, the voters’ defense attorneys pointed out that their clients had been provided with a voter-registration card, causing them to assume that they were eligible to vote. The statewide prosecutor is unlikely to show such mercy.

They should know

Granted, would-be voters have a responsibility to know what the law says, and the information is there in the extremely fine print of the Florida Voter Registration Application. Moreover, in a sense each ineligible voter may cancel out the vote of an eligible voter, so it’s not something to be taken lightly.

Therefore, violating the state’s election laws can’t be excused or ignored. Even so, enforcement is a challenge because a great deal of confusion understandably arose after Amendment 4 passed in 2018. The ballot language read:

“This amendment restores the voting rights of Floridians with felony convictions after they complete all terms of their sentence including parole or probation. The amendment would not apply to those convicted of murder or sexual offenses, who would continue to be permanently barred from voting unless the Governor and Cabinet vote to restore their voting rights on a case- by-case basis.”

Ultimately, over the loud objections of some of the civil-rights groups that had sponsored Amendment 4 and got it onto the ballot via a petition drive, the Legislature properly construed “all terms of their sentence” to include “payment of the total amount of all fines, fees, costs and restitution ordered as part of the felony sentence.”

Therein lies one major source of the enforcement challenge that has led to a large backlog of work at the state’s Division of Elections, a kind of clearinghouse for verifying would-be voters’ eligibility.

While it’s clear that convicted murderers and sexual predators aren’t eligible to vote, it’s another matter to check with the court clerks in Florida’s 67 counties to determine who has paid all their fines, fees, costs and restitution. There are also cross-checks to be done against computerized lists that may identify a felon who had met the law’s requirements after one conviction but later reoffended.

What this all means for Floridians is that felons will now be answerable to the statewide prosecutor if, having served their time and started a new life, they violated the law when they sought to do their civic duty by voting. Expect more than a mere 20 arrests and a stricter application of the law’s penalties.

Bragging rights

Meanwhile, what this means for DeSantis’ presidential aspirations is that he can now thread the needle on an issue — election security — of great importance to many Republicans.

Citing Florida’s example, as usual, he can position himself as a champion of election integrity without joining Donald Trump and the gaggle of election deniers still contesting the 2020 results. Among them: Marjorie Taylor Greene and several other members of the House Republicans’ Freedom Caucus.

Last Friday, while he was in Washington, reportedly laying the groundwork for his presidential campaign, DeSantis met with members of the Freedom Caucus, of which he was a member while in Congress.

Meanwhile, back in Tallahassee, Republican lawmakers gave him the election-law tweak, arguably the most helpful gift in the long run.

Robert F. Sanchez, of Tallahassee, is a former member of the Miami Herald Editorial Board. He writes for the Herald’s conservative opinion newsletter, Right to the Point. It’s weekly, and it’s free. To subscribe, go to miamiherald.com/righttothepoint.