Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis during a news conferene at the University of Florida last year | flgov.com/Governor’s Press Office
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis during a news conferene at the University of Florida last year | flgov.com/Governor’s Press Office
Gov. Ron DeSantis has backed legislation to attack ballot harvesting, the practice of allowing political operatives and others to collect voters’ ballots and turn them in to polling stations.
In Florida, these operatives are also called “boleteros."
“The ‘boleteros’ hover on the edge of the letter and spirit of the law,” Christian Ulvert, a top state Democratic campaign consultant, told the Miami Herald in 2012.
The new legislation will address ballot harvesting by mandating that no person may possess ballots other than their own and their immediate family, who could turn in a family member’s ballot if they were unable to make it to the polls.
Consultants estimate that there are hundreds of ballot harvesters in the state of Florida, working for both Democrats and Republicans, the Miami Herald reported.
The new legislation also seeks to increase transparency in the election process through internet reporting, open observation of signature review, and to prohibit private third-party funding for county elections teams.
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