州长罗恩·德桑蒂斯制造了新的争议佛罗里达州s新选举法律，授予福克斯新闻独家采访签字仪式的权利，并禁止其他媒体报道这一事件。
“大约一个小时后，在西棕榈滩希尔顿机场会议设施的门后，@GovRonDeSantis将签署一项法律，使一些人更难投票。南佛罗里达太阳哨兵报的高级政治撰稿人安东尼·曼在推特上写道:“佛罗里达州的记者不得入内，因为他已经获得了有线电视频道福克斯新闻的独家报道权。”。他说“几百个”德桑蒂斯和前总统唐纳德·特朗普美国的支持者也被允许参加活动。
“没有一个记者被允许进入。这是一个以开放政府为荣的“阳光”州，”哥伦比亚广播公司12台记者杰伊·奥布赖恩回应道。奥布莱恩说，他的站应该是一个池摄像头，为全国各地的其他分支机构提供活动。
美国广播公司下属机构WPBF表示，在德桑蒂斯签署法案并发表讲话后，其他媒体也被允许进入，这发生在“福克斯和朋友”节目现场，时间大约是上午8点45分
“这让我们保持领先，”德桑蒂斯说。“我们为自己取得的进步感到自豪。我们不会满足于我们的荣誉，我在这里签署这个法案时说，‘佛罗里达，你的投票很重要。你的投票将以诚实和透明的方式进行。"
州长在随后的新闻发布会上为这一不寻常的法案签署进行了辩护，称他“很高兴”给福克斯独家报道，同时承认他从未以这种方式签署过法案。
“这是非常积极的一天，我们得到了很多很好的反馈，我们为能够在国家电视台上这样做而感到骄傲，”他说。
民主党人团结一致反对议案说这是不必要的，意在压制历史上被剥夺权利的社区的投票。一名共和党参议员也投票反对该法案。佛罗里达州选举监督人员协会主席克雷格·拉蒂默(Craig Latimer)在该法案通过后发表声明说，尽管该法案在通过前删除了一些“最剥夺公民权的”条款，“但这项立法仍然使要求通过邮件投票和退回选票变得更加困难。”
佛罗里达州的SB 90法案对邮件投票施加了新的限制，包括减少单一邮件投票应用程序涵盖的选举数量，并限制投票箱。只有在主要办公地点的投币箱，而不是在提前投票地点的投币箱，可以在正常工作时间后打开，但所有投币箱必须由选举工作人员在选民可以接触到的时候亲自操作。虽然他们不需要亲自监控，但以前投递箱必须处于持续的视频监控之下。
SB 90还禁止地方机构接受几乎所有选举相关费用的外部资金，禁止向选民邮寄未经请求的选票，并在申请邮寄选票或更新选民登记记录时强加新的选民身份要求。该法案还禁止共和党人所说的“选票收集”——有人收集并返还他人的邮件选票——规定选民只能拥有属于他们或他们配偶直系亲属的选票，每次选举最多只能有两名其他选民。
就在德桑蒂斯签署法案后，两起诉讼对新法律提出质疑。第一项是针对国务卿、司法部长和所有67名县选举监督员的，声明该法案将“阻碍佛罗里达州投票过程的每一步”，但它不会平等地影响该州的选民。
诉状中写道:“它旨在并将使某些类型的选民更难参与该州的选举，包括那些通常希望通过邮件投票的选民，以及那些在历史上必须克服巨大障碍才能进入投票箱的选民，如佛罗里达州的资深选民、最年轻的选民和少数族裔选民。”
原告包括佛罗里达女选民联盟、黑人选民重要组织和佛罗里达退休美国人联盟。作为补救措施，原告要求宣布该法案的几项条款违宪，包括围绕投币箱和邮件投票请求的条款。
全国有色人种协进会法律辩护和教育基金也提交了一份诉讼挑战法律，声称它违反了《选举权法案》，美国残疾人法案和美国宪法第一和第十四修正案。
据报道，德桑蒂斯受到媒体的冷落，这要追溯到3月底佐治亚州发生的事情，当时佐治亚州共和党州长布赖恩·坎普(Brian Kemp)签署了桃子州全面的新选举法案SB 202或“2021年选举诚信法案”，并引发了全国范围的抗议，标志着这一事件成为历史上的第一场重大战斗投票权之战。肯普闭门签署了该法案，随后在推特上发布了一张照片，激怒了活动人士和民主党议员，因为一名州代表帕克·坎农(Park Cannon)在签署法案后继续敲门，肯普在那里向媒体发表讲话，希望获得访问权。已经提起了六起挑战格鲁吉亚法律的诉讼。
特朗普及其盟友数月来一直在散布操纵和窃取选举的阴谋，在此之后，实施新的投票限制的努力并不仅限于佐治亚州和佛罗里达州。州议员在2021年立法会议期间提出了数百项法案，这些法案将减少投票的机会，其他州也颁布了至少五项其他限制性投票法案。德州议员是准备开始其中一项综合选举法案HB 6将于周四进行议会表决。
GOP Gov. DeSantis signs Florida election bill into law amid new controversy
Gov. Ron DeSantis created new controversy aroundFlorida's newelectionlaw Thursday, giving exclusive access to the signing ceremony to Fox News and barring other media outlets from covering the event.
"In about an hour, behind this door at meeting facility at Airport Hilton in West Palm Beach, @GovRonDeSantis will sign law making it harder for some people to vote. No Florida reporters allowed in because he’s given an exclusive to cable channel Fox News for the bill signing," tweeted Anthony Man, the senior political writer for the South Florida Sun Sentinel. He said that "hundreds" of DeSantis' and former PresidentDonald Trump's supporters were also allowed into the event.
"Not a single reporter is being let in. This in a 'sunshine' state that prides itself on open government," CBS12 reporter Jay O'Brien echoed. O'Brien said his station was supposed to be a pool camera to feed the event to other affiliates across the country.
ABC affiliate WPBF said other outlets were allowed in after DeSantis signed the bill and made remarks, which happened live on "Fox and Friends" about 8:45 a.m.
"This keeps us ahead of the curve," DeSantis said. "We're proud of the strides that we've made. We're not resting on our laurels and me signing this bill here says, 'Florida, your vote counts. Your vote is going to be cast with integrity and transparency.'"
The governor defended the unusual bill signing during a later news conference, saying he was "happy" to give Fox the exclusive while acknowledging he's never signed a bill this way.
"It was a really positive day, we got a lot of great feedback on it and we're proud that we were able to do it on national television," he said.
Democrats were unitedagainst the bill, saying it's unnecessary and meant to suppress the vote among historically disenfranchised communities. One Republican senator also voted against the bill. Craig Latimer, president of the Florida Supervisors of Elections Association, issued a statement after the bill passed saying while some of the "most disenfranchising" provisions were cut from the bill before passage, "this legislation still makes requesting Vote By Mail ballots and returning those ballots harder."
Florida's bill, SB 90, imposes new limitations on mail voting, including lessening the number of elections a single vote-by-mail application covers and restricting ballot drop boxes. Only drop boxes at main office locations, not the ones at early voting locations, can be open after regular hours but all drop boxes must be physically manned by an election worker when they are accessible to voters. While they did not require in person monitoring, drop boxes did have to be under constant video surveillance previously.
SB 90 also bars local agencies from accepting outside money for nearly all election-related expenses and from mailing unsolicited ballots to voters and imposes new voter ID requirements when applying for a mail ballot or updating one's voter registration record. The bill also bans what Republicans call "ballot harvesting" -- someone collecting and returning others' mail ballots -- by limiting voters to possessing ballots belonging only to members of their or their spouse's immediate family and a maximum of two other voters per election.
Just after DeSantis signed the bill, two lawsuits were filed challenging the new law. The first, filed against the secretary of state, attorney general and all 67 county election supervisors,states that the billwill "impede every step of the voting process in Florida," but that it will not impact the state's voters' equally.
"It is crafted to and will operate to make it more difficult for certain types of voters to participate in the state’s elections, including those voters who generally wish to vote with a vote by-mail ballot and voters who have historically had to overcome substantial hurdles to reach the ballot box, such as Florida’s senior voters, youngest voters, and minority voters," the complaint reads.
The plaintiffs include the League of Women Voters of Florida, Black Voters Matter and the Florida Alliance for Retired Americans. As relief, the plaintiffs request that several provisions of the bill, including the ones around drop boxes and vote-by-mail requests, are declared unconstitutional.
The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund also filed alawsuitchallenging the law, alleging it violates the Voting Rights Act, Americans with Disabilities Act and the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.
DeSantis's reported media snub hearkens back to what unfolded in Georgia at the end of March, when Georgia GOP Gov. Brian Kemp signed the Peach State's sweeping new election bill, SB 202 or "The Election Integrity Act of 2021," and ignited a nationwide outcry, marking the first significant battle in what's become awar over voting rights. Kemp signed the bill behind closed doors, later posting a photo of it to Twitter that enraged activists and Democratic lawmakers as one state representative, Park Cannon, was arrested after continuing to knock on the door where Kemp was delivering remarks to media after signing the bill, hoping to gain access. Six lawsuits have been filed challenging Georgia's law.
The effort to impose new voting restrictions following months of Trump and allies spreading conspiracies about a rigged and stolen election is not unique to Georgia and Florida. State lawmakers introduced hundreds of bills during the 2021 legislative session that would reduce access to the ballot and at least five other restrictive voting bills have been enacted in other states. Texas lawmakers areset to take upone of its omnibus elections bill, HB 6, for a floor vote Thursday.
