Gov. Ron Desantis's racist "Election Integrity" crusade

The Hump Day Hot Topic

I was skeptical from the very moment that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) boldly strode to the lectern last month and declared that his administration was "cracking down on election fraud.” My skepticism stemmed from knowing that over the past decade, that cries of "election fraud" are about as real as Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the popular renaissance depictions of a blonde haired, blue eyed Jesus Christ. 

Gov. Desantis (center) flanked by his “election integrity” squad in heavily Democratic Broward County, Florida

But the political pundit in me still listened carefully, curious to see what my home state's mercurial governor was about to reveal as he brandished that sheepish grin that, all too often in my professional life, has been the harbinger of some bigoted foolishness disguised as "equal justice under the law."

My instincts were right; after Desantis trumpeted the fake news that his "election integrity" gestapo had rooted out election fraud, the real news was that the 20 Florida residents who were arrested, mostly Black, had been given clearance by elections officials to cast their ballots!

Leo Grant of Belle Glade, a community and Masonic leader, was one of 20 Florida residents who were arrested for voting last month despite being initially cleared to cast ballots.

You don't have to be the late Thurgood Marshall or Johnnie Cochran to realize that most of these cases will be dismissed—or the defendants will be found not guilty at trial once a judge or jury peruses documents that will show that a valid voter registration card was issued—or a ballot was lawfully provided to the person standing accused of violating election laws. 

But you do need to have a sense of understanding how Florida, like its former Confederate sister states, has a long and notorious history of suppressing votes—particularly Black votes—by using the criminal justice system as cover for blatant racism. 

Initially, it was Southern Democrats, angry with Republican Presidents Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, and Ulysees Grant for ending slavery and beginning a period of Reconstruction that led to voting rights for Black men, who started the voting suppression shenanigans in the 1880's—not long after the northern military occupation of the South ended during the previous decade. 

Lest we forget that the initial suppression of Black voting rights began following the infamous Compromise of 1877, one  that found Republican Rutherford B. Hayes "named" president over Democrat Samuel J. Tilden following a disputed election; Hayes promised to remove all federal troops in exchange for the win, and former Confederate leaders—all Democrats—soon took over and dominated Southern politics with a racist fist until 1965, when the Voting Rights Act was signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson that ended Black disenfranchisement. 

Black voting suppression is as American as apple pie, jazz music, and baseball

LBJ was deemed a traitor to his southern heritage by his racist racial kinsmen, so much so that by 1970, the majority of those old Democrats, also known as "Dixiecrats," switched to the Republican party en masse—where they have remained ever since!

Now, I do not wish to suggest that all Republicans are racist, that would be as shallow as concluding that all Democrats are humanists that love and support Black rights, which simply isn't true. But I do state outright that a good number of Republicans are racist, and that even those who would swear to their Blonde/Blue eyed version of Jesus that they aren't tend to support candidates like Ron Desantis, one whose policies have had a detrimental impact upon Blacks and other non White Christian Evangelicals in America. 

Policies, I remind, like Florida's Orwellian "Election Integrity" law.

Specifically, where Desantis throws a seemingly race neutral rock—while hiding his racist hand—is by declaring that on its face, that Florida law forbids those "convicted of murder or felony sexual offenses" from casting ballots. 

But the problem with Ronnie's rhetoric is that the voters arrested last month had their voting registrations approved by certified personnel, a fact that places the blame on the official(s)—not the voters!

University of Florida political science professor Daniel Smith perhaps said it best recently while averring, "If the state is unable to determine that these people were not eligible to vote, how on earth are these individuals themselves supposed to know? It’s really unconscionable…They’re punching down and targeting the low-hanging fruit.”

Indeed...

But to me, the even deeper problem is that when a former felon has completed his or her sentence and probation, that they should have ALL of their civil rights restored—including the right to vote. 

Back in 2008, while serving as general counsel of the Florida NAACP, I worked in conjunction with former Republican Gov. Charlie Crist as his general counsels drafted an executive order that provided automatic restoration of civil and voting rights for former felons who had completed their sentences. 

Then Florida Republican Gov. Charlie Crist after introducing then President Barack Obama in Fort Myers circa 2009

A few years later, when Republican Rick Scott succeeded Crist as governor, one of the very first executive orders that he signed was to overturn the automatic restoration of civil and voting rights for former felons! As it stands today, it now takes nearly a decade before a former felon in Florida can achieve full restoration of rights. 

Again, it doesn't take a brilliant legal scholar to figure out the "why;" a disproportionate number of former felons are Black, ergo, Republicans in Florida and across Dixie fear that millions of disenfranchised Black former felons will register as Democrats—and shift the balance of registration power in their states. 

And for those reading this blog and asking, "Hobbs, I still don't see this as a racial issue," consider the fact that the 20 mostly Black accused voters last month were arrested at gunpoint by multiple officers while last year, four wealthy whites from the patrician Republican township known as The Villages, each accused of voting in Florida and a second state in 2020, were allowed to turn themselves in at their leisure—and were later given community service "diversion" slaps on the wrist for voting twice in an area that voted heavily for former President Donald Trump!

While the Hobbservation Point will continue to monitor these latest alleged election fraud cases, today is as good a time as any to officially endorse Charlie Crist, now a Democrat who has served in Congress for several terms, in his race against Gov. Desantis this Fall. Crist showed his true colors by supporting Black voting rights and the NAACP back when he was a card carrying Republican, and I am certain that upon entering office for a second term, that the automatic restoration of civil and voting rights for all who have paid their debts to society in full will be among his top priorities!