After Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) signed SB90, a controversial bill aimed to establish “guardrails” regarding election administration law and mail-in ballots, a number of Democrats accused the legislation as an example of voter suppression. Most notably Florida Rep. Charlie Crist (D) and Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried (D), who both launched verbal jabs at the governor, and have now entered the gubernatorial race. Rep. Crist, who’s a former governor of Florida, has announced that he is going to embark on a right to vote tour across the state of Florida.
The tour will begin this week on Tuesday, and it will conclude through Friday. The gubernatorial candidate plans on reaching seven cities across the Sunshine State, and he’s using the tour to slam Governor DeSantis.
In a statement, Crist commented that “the right to vote is the cornerstone of our democracy, and listening to the voices of the people is the first job of any public servant.” Subsequently, Crist feels that “Governor DeSantis wants to divide Floridians and suppress the votes of people he doesn’t agree with.”
“I believe to my core that’s wrong,” Crist admitted, noting that he’s “running for Governor to build a Florida for all Floridians, and that starts with actually listening to Floridians and fighting to protect everyone’s right to vote.”
In early May, the former Governor of Florida penned an op-ed for the Tampa Bay Times, accusing Governor DeSantis and the GOP of caring “more about their political future than our democracy and your right to vote.”
“There is no other explanation for their constant voter suppression efforts,” Crist wrote, calling for “all Floridians, Democrats, Republicans and Independent voters alike” to “raise their voices and demand these terrible changes be reversed and that their constitutional right to vote be protected.”
