TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Democratic lawmakers called Wednesday for Gov. Ron DeSantis to accept a $20 million federal CARES Act grant to improve Florida's election infrastructure amid the coronavirus pandemic, citing the potential for unprecedented voting challenges in America's preeminent swing state.
Florida is one of just six states that haven't formally requested their share of the act's $400 million election safety fund.
Here's five questions asked and answered regarding the grant's purpose, whether it is, in fact, needed, and what critics predict will happen if the funds are not formally requested:
1. What exactly is the grant intended to address?
The funding can be used to assist county election supervisors in sanitizing polling places, hiring poll workers, paying for vote-by-mail postage and expanding in-person early voting hours, among other things.
2. Is the funding needed?
Many supervisors are anticipating a surge in vote-by-mail ballot requests ahead of the August primary and November general elections and have warned of cost-intensive postage and processing demands.
Additionally, some supervisors could be forced to shift polling places from places such as retirement activity centers to more expensive sites in order to minimize exposure of elderly residents to the virus. And as seniors who have served for years as poll workers considering sitting out the 2020 elections to safeguard their health, supervisors could have the foot the bill for hiring and training replacements.
3. Why hasn't the governor requested the grant funding?
DeSantis administration officials have pointed to a string attached to the grant - the requirement that the state provide $4 million in matching funds - as a reason for the governor's lack of action.
Because the matching money could represent a new appropriation, it might be necessary for state lawmakers - either collectively, as part of a special legislative session or via the smaller Legislative Budget Commission - to grant approval.
4. What do the Democratic lawmakers say?
On a conference call with reporters Wednesday, the Democrats - including state Sen. Gary Farmer (D-Lighthouse Point), state Rep. Geraldine Thompson (D-Orlando), and U.S. Reps. Donna Shalala (D-Coral Gables) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Weston) - suggested the governor's thinking is being guided less by process concerns and more by political considerations. DeSantis' ally in the White House, President Trump, has notably warned that expanding vote-by-mail could lead to election fraud.
5. What are they predicting will happen if the state doesn't accept the funding?
Rep. Wasserman Schultz told reporters bypassing the funds could impact public health.
"What's going to happen is, people are also going to go to the polls, and we aren't going to have enough resources in place potentially to keep people safe who do, and more people will get sick," she said. "So, if that's what Ron DeSantis wants to have happen, then that additional sickness and death will be on his hands."