Florida Lawmakers Must Act to Protect Elections from Outside Influence

Washington — Heritage Action, a national conservative grassroots organization, today released a statement from Executive Director Jessica Anderson encouraging Florida lawmakers to pass strong legislation to protect Florida’s election system:

As Florida lawmakers work to pass legislation to safeguard their elections and promote voter confidence, they should be sure to prioritize several elements. Most importantly, they should act to prohibit outside, private funding of elections. No official should accept any outside funds for election-related expenses — elections are the exclusive responsibility of the government, and private money creates partisan incentives and the appearance of corruption. Other states have recently passed important laws to restrict private funding, including Georgia and Arizona.

Additionally, the legislature should retain language that grants greater transparency and access for candidates and other officials to review signature comparisons, as well as language preventing ballot trafficking by political operatives. These important provisions will improve the transparency and security of Florida’s elections and ensure that it is easy to vote and hard to cheat in the Sunshine State.