VICE News: An Election Police Force Is an Absolutely Terrible Idea

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis essentially wants to create his own police force to fix a nonexistent problem: voter fraud. And a lot of people think that’s a terrible idea.

During his State of the State address earlier this month, DeSantis announced his intention to create a small law enforcement team that would go to the polls and ensure votes are cast without issues. But experts say his pipe dream of a so-called election integrity unit would not only be redundant and a waste of time but would also exacerbate voter intimidation, especially for minorities, and give the governor too much power in the process.

“The governor of Florida does not have control over all Florida police departments or the FBI. And by proposing this integrity unit, it seems like that’s what he wants: personal, political goon squad,” said Sylvia Albert, director of voting and elections for Common Cause.

Other Republicans are already embracing the idea though. David Perdue, the former Georgia senator who’s now running for governor, recently promised he’d also push for an election integrity unit in his state if elected later this year. And with six in ten Republicans still believing that Trump lost his reelection bid thanks to nefarious antics at the polls more than a year ago, there’s a good chance other prominent conservatives will gravitate toward the idea too. …

While U.S. governors are given certain powers to mobilize members of their states’ National Guard or declare a state of emergency, these powers all relate to the protection of their constituents in the face of disaster or other dangers rather than actively policing one of their constitutional rights.

“A police force under the authority of a political individual becomes a political army. That’s similar to, I don’t know, Russia?” Albert said. “In America, we have separation of powers. We have politicians, we have police, we have the judiciary. We have this in place to protect our democracy and to ensure that politicians do not use police as their personal army.”