The toll of DeSantis’s election police unit
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 30 May 2023
⏱️ 20 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis created an election police unit to crack down on voter fraud. But actual convictions by this unit are rare — and the toll on Florida’s voters is climbing higher.
Read more:
In its first nine months, the Office of Election Crimes and Security referred hundreds of alleged illegal voting cases to local law enforcement for possible charges — but few resulted in any arrests.
Lori Rozsa covers Florida for The Washington Post. She explains why DeSantis wants more money for a department that isn’t bringing in convictions.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | The state of Florida has charged and is in the process of arresting 20 individuals |
| 0:09.2 | across the state for voter fraud. |
| 0:12.1 | Over a year and a half ago, Florida's Republican governor, Rhonda Santis, announced a new initiative, |
| 0:17.6 | an election police unit. |
| 0:19.6 | Months later, the unit made its first arrests. |
| 0:22.5 | Apparently, I guess you have a warrant? |
| 0:28.5 | For what? |
| 0:30.5 | I'm not sure. |
| 0:31.5 | For voters, it's too felony charges for voter fraud, but they reduced it to $500 bonds. |
| 0:38.5 | So it's $1,000 to... |
| 0:40.5 | Oh my God, man. |
| 0:41.5 | What's up? |
| 0:42.5 | Yes, sir. |
| 0:43.5 | So, unfortunately, right now, we're going to have to take you to jail. |
| 0:47.5 | I didn't do it. |
| 0:48.5 | What did I do wrong? |
| 0:52.5 | This is a unit that was created specifically at Governor Santis' request. |
| 0:56.5 | It was the first of its kind in the nation to specifically have law enforcement officers |
| 1:03.5 | whose job is to basically arrest voters for alleged fraud. |
| 1:08.5 | Lori Rosa covers Florida for the post. |
| 1:11.5 | She says that so far, there have been more than 20 arrests for voter fraud, but hardly anyone is getting convicted. |
| 1:18.5 | And in the meantime, the election police have upended the lives of Floridians. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Washington Post, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Washington Post and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.