With much fanfare on Thursday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the initial results of his massive crackdown on supposed election fraud: the arrest of 20 people in the state of 21 million. Those 20 face felony charges for casting ballots in 2020 despite having convictions for murder or sexual assault which disqualifies them from voting. “That is against the law and now they’re gonna pay the price for it,” DeSantis said, flanked by more than a dozen cops and officials. The majority of arrests were in South Florida counties of Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade but it’s unclear what party affiliation the voters had. Critics like Democrat statehouse Rep. Anna V. Eskamani said those arrested may have been unaware they were ineligible to vote after an amendment passed in 2018 that restored voting rights for most felons in Florida as long as their conviction wasn’t for murder or a sex crime. DeSantis said the arrests were the first tranche made by his newly formed Election Crimes and Security Office, and he expected more to come.
