Old Florida State Capitol, Tallahassee, East view|DXR|CC BY-SA 4.0
The Republican-controlled Florida House passed a bill on Wednesday to operate a new security office that will investigate election crime and expand penalties for disobeying the state’s election laws.
The House sanctioned the measure—budgeted at $3.7 million—based on a party-line vote with Republicans backing the move.
The bill was submitted to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ office to be signed into law, who was also one of the early advocates for an election police unit.
According to the bill, a new Office of Election Crimes and Security under the Florida Department of State will be created to investigate fraud allegations and probe preliminary investigations.
