Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during a news conference at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. on Thursday, Aug. 18, 2022. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday announced criminal charges against 20 people for illegally voting in 2020, the first major public move from the Republican’s new election police unit. (Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP)
OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 6:44 AM PT – Friday, August 19, 2022
The state of Florida has been hard at work. During a press conference in Fort Lauderdale on Thursday, GOP Governor Ron DeSantis made a surprising announcement in relation to alleged voter fraud.
“The state of Florida has charged and is in the process of arresting 20 individuals across the state for voter fraud,” he stated.
DeSantis said the majority of these individuals illegally voted and are disqualified from voting because they have been convicted of either murder or sexual assault according to Florida law.
“They did not go through any process, they did not get their rights restored and yet they went ahead and voted anyways,” explained the governor. “That is against the law and now they’re going to pay the price for it.”
The charge of election fraud is a third degree felony in the state and individuals could face a $5,000 fine and up to five years in prison.
WATCH: Ron DeSantis announces his Office of Election Crimes and Security is charging and arresting individuals across the state for voter fraud
“These folks voted illegally… They are disqualified from voting because they have been convicted of either murder or sexual assault!” pic.twitter.com/JhQY2SlOzN
— Florida’s Voice (@FLVoiceNews) August 18, 2022
Florida has created the first-ever Office of Election Crimes and Security Office in state government with the purpose of cracking down violations of election law.
“We’ve done things like make ballot harvesting a felony in Florida…we have said you can not just send out mass ballots without the voter requesting an absentee ballot,” said DeSantis. “We’ve said that for absentee ballot requests their needs to be identification…we made sure there are enforceable penalties…and ban Zuckerbucks in the state of Florida.”
Meanwhile, the Republican Governor said his state of Florida will continue investigating election integrity.