Democrats are speaking out loudly against Florida's new election law, and lawsuits have been filed by groups that claim it restricts minorities' rights to vote.
Republican Congressman Byron Donalds of Southwest Florida says there's nothing wrong with the law, which includes a ban on "ballot harvesting."
"That's not discriminatory. It's not racist. It's not 'Jim Crow 2.0,' which is just laughable to me. Especially as a Black man it's exceedingly laughable and frankly it's disgusting."
The "Jim Crow" line was uttered by South Florida Senator Shevrin Jones about the law, signed this week by Gov Ron DeSantis. It allows immediate family members or caregivers to collect voters' ballots, but bars anyone else from getting your ballot and bringing it to the polls.
Donalds continues...
"For the Left to come out and say 'Oh, this is racist' and 'You're trying to disenfranchise Black people,' it's outright bigotry of low expectations because the assumption is that a Black person in our state can't exercise their right to vote. That is a lie."
He says Black residents of Florida vote at a greater proportion of their population here than they do in other states.
Donalds says this is the bottom line:
"As a Black man in the state of Florida, if I wanted to go vote I can go to my polling location and vote. I can go to my early voting location and vote. I can go online to my Supervisor of Elections, request an absentee ballot. They will mail it to me and as long as the Post Office doesn't have rules against Black people being able to buy a stamp, I can buy a stamp, put it on the envelope, sign it, and put it back in the mail and it will be cast."
Donalds was elected in November to represent Florida's 19th U.S. House District in Washington. He previously served 4 years in the Florida House of Representatives.
Click Here for "What's In Florida's New Voter Integrity Law."
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