Democrats Could Literally Be Banned From Elections Thanks to New, Batshit Florida Bill

Disenfranchising voters has long been one of the Republican Party’s many pet projects. For the most part, they’ve done it by using sneaky, indirect measures, like gerrymandering and limiting the use of ballot drop boxes. And while that’s been quite effective, at least one Florida lawmaker has decided that it’s high time the GOP drops the charade and just…bans the Democratic Party from elections. Which we assume has Republicans in other states wondering why they didn’t think of that themselves.

Per Spectrum News 13:

A new proposed bill could pave the way for the official removal of the Democratic Party from official voting information if passed in this year’s legislative session in Tallahassee. The bill, currently titled SB 1248, calls for the state Division of Elections to cancel the “filings” of a political party, to include party registration and approved status in any and all elections if that party’s platform had previously advocated for slavery, or involuntary servitude. 

Although not explicitly listed, the Democratic Party, which was popular in the nation’s South during Reconstruction, would fit the description. Economics and civil rights fueled significant changes in both parties in the years since. The bill includes language that would require any voter currently registered as a member of a canceled party to be notified by that political party to update their voter registration to an approved and active political party. 

The bill was filed by Florida state Senator Blaise Ingoglia who argued that this is simply about giving cancel-culture libs a taste of their own medicine. “For years now, leftist activists have been trying to ‘cancel’ people and companies for things they have said or done in the past,” he said in a statement. “This includes the removal of statues and memorials, and the renaming of buildings. Using this standard, it would be hypocritical not to cancel the Democrat Party itself for the same reason.”

In response, the Democratic Party of Florida issued a statement noting that the bill would “disenfranchise 5 million voters is both unconstitutional and unserious. Under Ron DeSantis, Senator Ingoglia is using his office to push bills that are nothing more than publicity stunts instead of focusing on the issues that matter most to Floridians, such as reforming property insurance, addressing housing affordability, and combating climate change.”

While it seems highly unlikely Ingoglia’s bill will pass, he could, in theory, have the votes, given that Florida’s governorship and legislature have been controlled by Republicans since 1999, and the legislature currently enjoys a comfortable supermajority. On the other hand, passage of the bill is clearly a secondary goal, the primary one being to troll liberals. But who knows—maybe DeSantis will rally support! After all, it does seem up his alley.