Statements
Florida Democratic Party Chair Manny Diaz Comments on the Supposed Voter Advantage Republicans Claim
Stories published today on the number of registered voters did not say that Republicans are playing shell games with the actual figures. Registrations are coming predominantly from Department of Motor Vehicles registration, not an actual Republican effort as they want the public to believe. Further, Republicans are moving an outsize number of Democrats from active status to inactive. However, those voters are still eligible to vote. In response to this, Florida Democratic Party Chairman Manny Diaz issued the following statement: “These are nothing more than attempts by Republicans to get a press release and a headline, when in fact the numbers show other patterns, including a disproportionate number of Democrats being reclassified as inactive. Let’s be clear here, these voters are still eligible to vote and there are still more registered Democrats than Republicans in Florida. “No one is denying that over the past several years Democrats have neglected to register voters at a rate that would maintain our edge. However, the changes that we have been seeing recently are due more to a suspicious pattern where many more Democrats are being moved to inactive than Republican voters. Ron DeSantis seems to be proud of how many people they have kicked off the voter rolls. The rate of voter purges has skyrocketed under this Governor. Remember, they control the Department of Elections and most Supervisors of Elections offices. “Whether it is fielding straw candidates to win elections, suppressing the right to vote, and now the smoke and mirrors they are playing with these figures, the Republican Party will stop at nothing to hold on to power. Despite what they would have the public believe, Florida is a swing state with a commonsense voting public that in the past has approved by convincing margins Democratic priorities such as a $15 an hour minimum wage, access to medical marijuana, and reinstating the right to vote to returning citizens who have already paid their dues to society. “These figures are nothing more than a convenient reporting of the numbers designed more for public relations purposes than informing Florida’s public.”