This is a question that must be asked.

[lees1975]

We have Desantis, a far right extremist hardliner, as governor of Florida who won his first election by a sliver of a margin. His people have the vote counting apparatus locked up tight in their hands. Florida suddenly transitions from having been carried by Obama twice to going for Trump suddenly by GOP margins not seen there, well, since before the 2000 disaster. On election night, several reporters who do this often, including Kornacki, made comments that the Democratic vote totals in traditionally strong areas seemed low, especially Miami-Dade. Now, after four years of Desantis control, suddenly Republicans win landslides? And they flip Miami-Dade in two election cycles from 65% Democrat to 55% Republican?

Obviously, we don't want to look like Trumpies with election fraud claims in hand but zero evidence to back it up. But surely, there's someone in the state Democratic party who sees this and ask questions where they need to be asked? Anyone else here think there might be something to see in Florida other than Disney and the beach?

24 votes, 3 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	Yes, more than likely voter suppression and obvious gerrymandering
	16 (67%)
	Yes, cheating of some kind, messing with ballots, or false reported totals being confirmed.
	7 (29%)
	No, Democrats just didn't raise the money and get out their vote.
	1 (4%)
	No Desantis runs a clean operation that can be completely trusted.
	0 (0%)
	3 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
Show usernames Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll

[niyad]

1. Let us just say that it would not surprise me in the least.

[wryter2000]

2. Don't like the No options

I'd vote for No, Florida has gone red. Or No, I don't want to look like a RWNJ. Or No, we have no evidence.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

5. Same n/t

[Walleye]

3. He did send out state police to arrest people for voting two years previously

He made sure those images of those people being arrested were on the news as well. His smug attitude and braggadocio after the election however has made me very suspicious

[FoxNewsSucks]

4. Both "yes" choices are likely to be true.

That's one of the first things I thought also on tuesday, how the hell did he go from winning by less than 1/2 percent to a HUGE win? Especially after showing what a cruel, corrupt, vindictive, petty asshole he really is.

[lees1975]

12. Rubio isn't exactly a great candidate either...

...no real legislative achievements, flip-flops on issues, is totally indebted to corporate interests, in a major way, and offered nothing at all when it came to crime, which is rampant in Florida, and inflation. No solutions, no commitments. I have a scattering of Floridians on my social media, including a few Republicans but even in the weeks leading up to the election, no comments or memes involving either Desantis or Rubio, but lots of good comments about Val Demings.

[AmBlue]

6. Secretary of State in Fla is appointed

...by the governor in power, NOT elected, and serves at the pleasure of that governor. This has always been disturbing to me as a Floridian. A corrupt governor could easily use this office for his or her own purposes. Just sayin'...

*queue Katherine Harris here, who stopped the vote-counting in Florida in the Presidential election of 2000*

EDITED TO ADD: I would not put anything past DeathSantis, based on his manipulation of the #s of COVID-infected and Floridians who died of COVID. Rebekah Jones, data scientist who worked for the State of Florida, was fired and arrested by DeathSantis because she would not manipulate the COVID data and busted his administration for doing so.

[allegorical oracle]

25. Agree that it ought to be elective, but if a SofS is corrupt, it doesn't matter whether elected or

appointed. The worst thing about Katherine Harris was that she was in charge of the 2000 election at the same time she was Florida's Republican party chairperson. That should've never been allowed -- then or now -- either party.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

26. You also

might want to read up on Rebekah Jones. Her claims were thoroughly debunked by the IG, and she was arrested and charged because she allegedly accessed a state computer after being fired and used it to send debunked info to outside entities.

And it wasn’t her first brush with the law.

There is plenty to dislike about DeSantis without falling for conspiracy theories.

[Recursion]

7. The gerrymander kind of backfired for the GOP in FL

The problem was the statewide races: DeSantis won by 20 points, as opposed to like 2 points last time around. That's not in the range of cheating: that's an actual signal from the voters.

The gerrymander backfired because they wanted 5 D reps but wound up with 8 because they gerrymandered a little too hard.

The fact is DeSantis soundly beat Crist, and even if he did cheat he didn't need to. This is the new threat we need to confront out in the open before it spreads.

[Just A Box Of Rain]

8. It is impossible to gerrymander a statewide race.

That DeSantis made efforts to intimidate people into not voting is undeniable.

None the options work for me.

[brooklynite]

9. "election fraud claims in hand but zero evidence to back it up"

Just spitballing here, but maybe the folks in Florida like him?

[SickOfTheOnePct]

11. Exactly

And the claims made in the OP aren’t exactly on the money either.

[wryter2000]

16. In fact

What the OP says sounds rather like something R. Giuliani said.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

32. Or perhaps there should be an investigation to see if there is evidence of wrongdoing.

[KPN]

10. I would say yes to both of the first two. Not sure what

can or could be done about it without any real evidence. Perhaps the FL Democratic Party could perform some sort of diagnostic analysis to determine whether a harder look is warranted.

Frankly, I wonder if the same isn’t true in Ohio. I know in the past there were suspicions about Ohio — on at least two elections as I recall.

[lees1975]

19. Ohio Secretary of State has a lot of power over election results...

and they're usually Republican. Wasn't this the state that threw out a huge pile of provisional ballots in 2000 because they were afraid that would tip the balance to Gore?

But lots of Democratic voters have left the state. I used to live just across the state line from Youngstown, in PA, and noticed the decline of the whole area, particularly the city, where I think the population has dropped to about 50,000 from a peak of about 170,000 in an area that was solidly Democratic from there through Akron and up to Cleveland. 1,500 jobs lost in 2019 during Trump when the GM plant at Lordstown closed. I remember driving by there coming back home late one night and the parking lot was almost full at 10 p.m. with second shift. Lots of those people have moved, mostly to California, Arizona or Texas.

And wasn't this also the state that shut down early voting places or relocated them to discourage Columbus and Cleveland African Americans from their "Souls to the polls" on the Sunday before election? Remember Nina Turner? She was on to that.

[Wingus Dingus]

13. Cheating. Because Republicans accuse Dems of doing the nefarious things

that they are actually doing.

[Wounded Bear]

14. We know they did their best to circumvent the felony reinstatement initiative...

Unlike the idiot in Wisconsin who claimed "repubs would never lose again" they did it quietly in Florida.

[sarisataka]

15. So...

we don't want to look like Trumpies with election fraud claims in hand but zero evidence to back it up

But then offer options to do only that
I won't start making up conspiracy theories without a shred of proof.

The shifting Hispanic vote was discussed here several times. It was noted to be especially strong in Florida. Perhaps look there first.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

17. Wish I could rec this n/t

[lees1975]

20. But, evidence from this election itself didn't show a rightward drift of Hispanics this time, except

among the Cubans in South Florida. But an almost 30 point shift in four years is highly suspicious. I could see 3-5%, maybe even as much as 7%, depending on issues.

[sarisataka]

24. Cuban vote,

Influx of retirees and older population (mostly white), being out spent over 3:1....

The two key issues were abortion and the economy. Florida is a perfect storm that favors Republicans.

Let's take your advice and not be them. Check for facts and evidence before tossing out speculative accusations.

[grantcart]

31. +1

[Phoenix61]

18. The Villages is part of it. A huge retirement Mecca well

known for its RWNJ leanings. A huge Cuban population that has been told forever that Democrats are socialists. RWNJ Spanish radio stations pushing that message and with nothing to counteract that.

[Sunsky]

21. I don't give a damn what we look like

I believe both yeses are true. Voter suppression did occur but something smells in South Florida. DeSantis and his minions are not honest brokers and I don't trust any figures that they produce. We have seen them manipulate data to their benefit. He has corrupted all state departments. Nobody wants to challenge him out of fear of retaliation. Businesses fear him. Florida Dems need to concentrate on winning the Gubernatorial race next cycle. Without it we can forget winning any significant statewide races. And please, no more candidates like Charlie Crist. The man was missing the whole election cycle.
Also, the Cuban Americans have been supporting the Republicans yet year after year Miami still went Democratic. Now, we should believe that in one DeSantis term a seismic shift has occurred. I don't buy into all these rationalizations about the proud boys (they also didn't just assemble) etc.

[Polybius]

22. I want to vote for option 4, but can't because you added the "trusted" part at the end

I don't trust him, but he won fair and square. Floridians approve of him in high numbers, and that's why he won. It's more Republican now because many MAGA's moved there over the last 10 years or so.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

23. Yep

Statewide races have been trending more towards Republicans since 2012. Add in a lousy candidate (Crist), and the blowout isn’t surprising.

[lees1975]

28. Maybe one of the choices should have been

Bad democratic candidates though Val Deming's did great, I thought. Dems need a young, Cuban American with some political savvy and experience make or female. And a couple of solid African Americans along with Deming's who should try for governor next time

[Kaleva]

33. +1

[GoCubsGo]

27. Mostly voter suppression, but probably a bit of fraud here and there, as well.

And, a whole lot of fear-mongering lies targeted at Latinos and white people.

[BlueCheeseAgain]

29. We have no real reason or evidence to think there was any sort of fraud.

We're supposed to be the side that believes in democracy.

[lees1975]

30. Trump gave reason to question this....

By admitting to sending in FBI and DOJ to help Desantis in 2018. Not saying there is fraud, but it's worth a look.

[Kaleva]

34. DeSantis won fair and square. That's not to say he can be trusted.