As a reaction to Governor Ron DeSantis’ announcement on the alleged investigation of voting fraud, Florida Rising Executive Director, Andrea Mercado, made the following statement: 

“No one has done more to violate the integrity of Florida’s elections and make it harder for Floridians to be part of our democracy than Ron DeSantis.  If we had a real election integrity department, they would arrest the Governor for erasing Black districts and threatening neighbors helping neighbors cast their ballots.

What today shows is not that democracy is working in Florida; it’s that the Offices that are trying to turn our state into a one-man rule will do whatever they can to distract and deflect from how they have reduced Floridians’ ability to vote and have their voice heard.

DeSantis showed in his new political stunt staged in the Broward County Court House a desperate effort to demonstrate the need for his private police force. The real crime, though, is DeSantis’ attack on free and fair elections. He will try to create hysteria around fraud in order to further disenfranchise Black and Brown voters. 

Floridians and anyone who cares about the integrity of our elections should see through his press conference today and demand the basis of transparent and fair elections, letting eligible voters vote as easily and accessibly as possible.”

# # #