DeSantis: Republicans Should Use the Left’s Voting Tactics “Where It’s Legal”

MIDLAND, MICHIGAN — Florida Governor Ron DeSantis wants Republicans across the country to participate in ballot harvesting in states that allow it.

Speaking to supporters at a local Republican club in Michigan on Thursday, the governor suggested Republican candidates are “fighting with one hand behind their backs” in states that permit third-party voter collection – commonly referred to as “ballot harvesting.”

The term often implies voter fraud, because those collecting the ballots can easily alter or throw out votes with impunity. DeSantis did not call for throwing out or altering ballots from Democrat voters, but suggested the practice of ballot harvesting should be used “for Republicans advantage.”

“I think you should have ballot harvesting where it’s legal and then fight to have the legislatures in those states get rid of it, because that’s not the way you should conduct an election,” DeSantis said.

“CULTURE OF LOSING”

The governor touted Florida’s outlawing of ballot harvesting and other practices that are easily susceptible to voter fraud, such as drop boxes and private funding for official election practices.

“If that’s not the law in your state, you need to use those rules for Republicans' advantage,” DeSantis said. “You can’t have Republicans fighting with one hand behind their backs.”

DeSantis bemoaned a “culture of losing” in the GOP that has resulted in disappointing outcomes for Republicans in recent elections. He thinks a paradigm shift is needed in order for the party to recapture the levers of power in America.

“If you let Democrats do all this and all we do is complain about it, you’re giving the Democrats an advantage,” DeSantis said. “And I’m sick of that.”