DeSantis Condemned For Using "Election Police" to Intimidate Florida Voters with Felony Convictions

this is democracy Now democracynow.org The War and Peace report I'm Amy Goodman we look now at how Republicans are still trying to scare former felons away from voting even as trumped-up charges of voter fraud in past elections have been dismissed in the lead-up to the November 8th midterm elections it was March 2020. super Tuesday when Hervis Rogers was interviewed by CNN's Ed lavendera as he stood in line with other voters in Houston Texas why did you wait this long to vote because I wanted I feel like it was mine do the devote I want to get my vote in to voice my opinion and I won't go let nothing stop them so I waited it out we waited for about six hours about six hours a little bit over six hours that interview with Rogers went viral a year later he was charged with felony voter fraud for voting when he was ineligible while on felony parole last week a district court judge in Texas set aside his indictment which was brought by the Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton who's running for re-election and supports former Trump's claims of the 2020 election was stolen Days Later Paxton launched a 2022 so-called election Integrity team this comes after a legal setback in Florida for a republican Governor Ron DeSantis also running for re-election last Friday a Miami man arrested under desantis's newly formed Florida Office of election crimes and security had its charges dismissed Floridians voted in 2018 to allow formerly incarcerated people with past felony convictions to cast ballots excluding those convicted of murder or felony sex offenses Robert Lee wood was among 20 mostly black voters arrested in August who said they were encouraged to vote by Florida officials and were not made aware of this exclusion which is not stated on voter registration forms police body cam footage shows how people seem puzzled by their arrests and didn't intend to run a foul of the law this is Tampa resident Ramona Oliver being arrested [Music] you caught off guard I understand right so you have a warrant it's for voter fraud okay hear me out it's an RoR you know what RoR is oh my God you go in you get booked and then they're gonna release you from booking you can go right out you're gonna be right back out okay right back but you have a warrant okay that's like voting for that voter but I fought commit no fraud well so that's the thing I don't know exactly what happened with it but you you do have a warrant that's what it's for oh my God for more we're joined in Orlando Florida by Desmond Meade president of the Florida rights restoration Coalition and chairman of Floridians for a fair democracy he's spearheaded Amendment four which re-enfranchised 1.4 million Floridians his latest book is titled let my people vote my battle to restore the civil rights of returning citizens welcome back to democracy Now Desmond as we watch this video and this woman saying oh my God can you talk about the 20 or so Floridians who were just arrested by the so-called election Integrity the election police force that DeSantis has uh just created well good morning Amy thank you so much for having me on the show you know I'm looking at the video and and just hearing this woman speak and it's just infuriates me you know and and almost like getting re-traumatized again and thinking about those 20 people you know some of whom were uh arrested by SWAT teams right and and having helicopters over their homes as if they're Pablo Escobar or something you know and each one of these individuals terrified some being drug out in their home in the middle of the night still in their pajamas wouldn't even wouldn't even be allowed to to to get into regular clothes and to think all because of the state's failure uh to have a system in place that could assure any American citizen that lives in the State of Florida whether or not they're eligible to vote and so it's it's very it's it's very infuriating um and and I know that you know you we talk about you know the the impact the chilling impact that this can have on on especially returning citizen voters and sadly Amy the damage has already been done uh right now we're forced to try to mitigate those damages uh by responding to these arrests Desmond uh just clarify your terms explain what you mean and you consider yourself a returning citizen by this term returning citizens I'm glad you asked that Amy you know a returning citizen is uh youth interchangeably with Justice impacted people or people who've had previous felony convictions uh who've been impacted by the criminal justice system uh we tend to to shy away from using the word felon because that is a dehumanizing term and and unfortunately you know this this country is accustomed to using that word but when you do do that you kind of lose the humanity in some of these stories you know when you show that gentleman that was excited about being able to vote and was willing to stand in line for hours to do so right that's the human part of it and they really appreciate you for showing that right but it reminds me even of the young man who was investigated for voting fraud talking about how he's he's been hidden away from society for so long and when he was told by the supervisor of elections that he was eligible to vote how he felt like you know he was finally part of society and these are the stories that we have to uplift because it's more about the people and less about the politics talk about how you felt when you were able then to vote and why this was so important to you Amy let me tell you you know and and it's I know it's hard for people to wrap their head around but I really do believe that when we talk about voting it actually transcends partisan politics I know every time we say voting it's it's within a conversation about Democrats and Republicans but when I went to vote for the first time in my very first presidential election in 2020. you know I didn't feel as if I was Voting as a democrat or republican or even as an African-American what I felt I was doing was engaging in an act that that validated my existence on this planet that that validated my existence within the society that my voice matters right and and it was such a a sacred experience uh that I felt and and it really drove home why we were so adamant in fighting for everyone every returning citizen having an opportunity to participate in our democracy and how important everyone's participation is to our democracy in order for our democracy to be more vibrant I mean it's not just returning citizens who are excited about voting the State of Florida um you spearheaded Amendment four it overwhelmingly passed but then can you talk about how the republican-led legislature tried to restrict what the people of Florida Democrat Republican independent voted for you actually Desmond Mead had very little resistance in this amendment that enabled what something like 1.4 million more Floridians to vote and you're right Amy you know just I think your your previous guest alluded to it that you know we're in the time now in this country where you have elected officials that are are are blatantly ignoring the will of the people you know here in Florida the people clearly spoke you know and we had a very beautiful moment when we passed Amendment four because we had people from all walks of life and all political Persuasions Democrats Republicans Independents matter of fact over a million people who voted for governor DeSantis also voted for amendments for however you know I believe since the the formation of this country there's always been a select group of politicians who would much rather pick and choose who get to vote for them as opposed to letting everyone have a say on how their country is governed as a matter of fact it hasn't been too long since uh women were given the right to vote there was a time in this country when there were politicians that that strenuously believed that women should not be able to have a say in how this country is ran and they were willing to abuse women they were willing to incarcerate women to prevent them from having a say and this is the same thing that we're seeing right now so Desmond Meade let's go back to this arrest of the 20 people um almost all African-American who were arrested and what they were told I mean to be very clear here this is more than arresting them it sends a message to people who've been incarcerated or not in Florida you better watch out if you vote you might be arrested whether or not later on the charges get dropped but the idea that in fact a number of them did not think they could vote but they were told don't worry about it sign up and if you can't you won't be able to vote you'll be told yes you are you you're perfectly right you know Amy I I tell folks that there's a biggest story within the story that's told you know uh you know prior to the August arrest there were some arrests in April I think in in Alachua County and in this particular case you had 10 men that were arrested uh some were with drug out of uh homeless shelters they were the grandfather that was arrested in front of his grandkids and these gentlemen were all told by a supervisor of election that it was okay for them to register to vote and they did right and and and what we're seeing is that when and we know that there is probably hundreds even thousands more individuals that are facing a a possibility of being arrested or even prosecuted at the end of the day you know we've we've always stated that the burden is on the state when a person fills out a voter registration form even a third party voter registration organization when they help someone register to vote it is not their responsibility to ensure that that person uh is totally qualified voter they do not have the resources that the state have right and so those applications are then sent to the secretary of state whose responsibility it is to run the the applications through whatever various systems it have to to ensure whether or not that person is qualified voter if that person is not qualified then the secretary of state would not issue a vote identification card however if there if that person is qualified the state would send that person a vote identification card and when that person receives that card there's no other option but to believe that they are a legitimate voter right because if you can't rely on on the state to give you assurances about whether or not you can vote then who else can you rely on I'm looking at a New York Times piece about one of the people arrested Larry um named Robert Lee wood who received a voter card from Florida six or seven weeks after filling out the application and then he gets arrested so can you talk as we wrap up Desmond Mead about how many people who were formally imprisoned do have the right to vote in this country who's who may not know this or just what is the population we're talking about well let me tell you about Florida because Florida is such a pivotal State you know there's over 600 000 returning citizens that are living in Florida right now that are eligible to register the vote and participate in elections right but they face the challenge of number one the the chaos surrounding the payment of fines and fees uh that that that kind of discourages them from even trying to vote and then now you have these arrests one very important thing though I want to note Amy is that I remember when there was a raid on in in Mar-A-Lago and president uh Trump's home how some people were questioning the timing of the FBI raid saying that it's suspicious that they would raid two years uh before the presidential election and now my statement to them is that if people are concerned about the timing two years off right here in Florida these arrests started on the eve of of of of of Elections right whether the primary election that we had in August right and now of course the general election that we have here in November and so these arrests are are frighteningly close to election and it is it can't be other any other uh a conclusion to make other than that this is an intimidating tactic uh to scare people away from participating in our democracy and so folks need to be outraged at this folks need to to fight back and one of the ways they can do this Amy is that we've set up bail funds for these individuals and we've set up a legal defense fund the gentleman that you talked about whose case was dropped we were able to provide an attorney for this young man so he's able to successfully challenge uh these charges in court we're providing attorneys for any individual who are arrested on these charges and we're making sure that people are also able to bail out if they cannot afford to post ban

Channel: Democracy Now!

Views: 251,249

Keywords: Democracy Now, Amy Goodman, News, Politics, democracynow, Independent Media, Breaking News, World News

Id: aBo69LIrba4

Length: 14min 42sec (882 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 28 2022