Florida Republicans effectively 'nullified' Black state rep's election by refusing to send certification letter

1
Florida Republicans are refusing to allow a Democratic state representative take his seat until the current legislative session is nearly over.

Daryl Campbell was elected to the Florida House on Jan. 11, but the secretary of state appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis won't send a letter certifying his election until at least March 8 -- which is three days before the annual legislative session ends, reported the Sun-Sentinel.

“I remain hopeful," Campbell told the newspaper. "Am I surprised? I am not. It’s just unfortunate that our constituents … now are being faced with a situation where their voice does not get heard.”

Campbell went to Tallahassee to learn his way around and hoped to be sworn in next week, when the full House of Representatives meets, but secretary of state Laurel Lee won't send a letter to the legislature declaring him the winner of the universal primary election until March 8, which would have been the date of a general election that ultimately was not needed because only Democrats came forward to run for the seat.

“As a courtesy, we will send a letter to the House and the Senate listing the winners of the elections, but not until after the general election,” said Lee's communications director Mallory Morgan. “Ultimately, it is up to the Legislature to decide who has been elected and when to seat those members."

The state Constitution does make the House of Representatives the “sole judge of the qualifications, elections, and returns of its members,” so that allows House Speaker Chris Sprowls, a Republican, to make the final determination when Campbell might be seated, and GOP leadership has made clear that wouldn't happen until he's certified the winner.

“The secretary of state has one job in this instance, and that’s certifying the election," said House Democratic leader Evan Jenne. "If anything, they’ve stopped all the parts from moving. They’ve completely put us on some sort of list of ‘do not respond.' I can’t get any answers."

Jenne said he walked to the secretary of state's office to get some answers, but he waited nearly four hours without a meeting.

“No one has called or showed up,” Jenne said. “They’re not responding to anyone. Neither myself as minority [party] leader or, more importantly, no one is responding to Representative-elect Campbell and his ability to represent 170,000 people in Broward County has been nullified.”
https://www.rawstory.com/daryl-campbell/

Just more DeSatan’s Racist Authoritarianism.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.-Huxley
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis Brandeis,

Re: Florida Republicans effectively 'nullified' Black state rep's election by refusing to send certification letter

3
This kind of thing will become the norm across the country. States with Republican control will simply stop accepting elections when Democrats win. They either won't certify them, won't seat them, or they'll enact laws that allow them to give the seats to Republicans. It's already happening and no one's doing anything about it.

Pretty soon the party that tried to overturn the election for POTUS and make Trump king will control congress and they'll double down on making it impossible for Democrats to win (or to actually hold office when they do win).

We're one of those countries now.
Whatever I said above, just pretend I included the obligatory “both sides,” especially if I said something mean about Trump (don’t want to hurt any feelings).

www.schayden.com

Re: Florida Republicans effectively 'nullified' Black state rep's election by refusing to send certification letter

4
Greengunner wrote: Sat Jan 29, 2022 12:03 am This kind of thing will become the norm across the country. States with Republican control will simply stop accepting elections when Democrats win. They either won't certify them, won't seat them, or they'll enact laws that allow them to give the seats to Republicans. It's already happening and no one's doing anything about it.

Pretty soon the party that tried to overturn the election for POTUS and make Trump king will control congress and they'll double down on making it impossible for Democrats to win (or to actually hold office when they do win).

We're one of those countries now.
Yep, I'm afraid we are...

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Ahrefs [Bot] and 3 guests