Florida Governor DeSantis Signed “Strongest Election Integrity Law in the Nation” and was Condemned by the White House

The Breitbart News reported Thursday, May 6, that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed Florida’s election integrity law that morning and hailed the legislation as “the strongest election integrity measure in the United States,” only to be denounced by the White House the same day.

Ms. Karine Jean-Pierre, deputy White House press secretary, told reporters aboard Air Force One, “Florida is moving in the wrong direction. “

Jean-Pierre also criticized Republicans across the country for passing new laws to guarantee elections, accusing Republicans of preventing Democrats from voting.

White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Karin Jean-Pierre

Florida’s election integrity law places restrictions on ballot box drop-offs, mail-in ballots and ballot collection, while also strengthening voter ID requirements.

At a West Palm Beach news conference Thursday morning, DeSantis told Fox News, “This bill will ensure that a voter ID system is enforced, that ballot harvesting is prohibited and that political activists can no longer collect bags of ballots and throw them in the ballot box.” Amid cheers from supporters, DeSantis signed the bill.

Florida’s law, DeSantis told reporters, requires real-time tracking after ballots come in to know who is voting and how they are registered. “When the election is over, we know how many votes have been cast. To throw out another 100,000 votes two or three days later, that’s just not possible.” DeSantis said there were 11 million votes cast in Florida in last year’s election, with 99 percent of the ballots counted by midnight, and the new law gives “us a much better voting process.”

Florida’s Election Integrity Act retains the Drop Box, but requires that the Drop Box be located in a location that provides equal access to all voters in the county and that the Drop Box can only be used during regular voting hours if it can be monitored. It is illegal to place a ballot drop box in an unsupervised location at night.

In addition, the new law prohibits the use of private funds in elections, such as the practice of big tech companies funding Democratic state election expenses.

At the signing ceremony, DeSantis emphasized, “By signing this bill here, I am telling you that in Florida, your vote matters, your vote will be cast with integrity and transparency, and Florida is great, democratic turf.”