Report: Top Florida Republicans say election law was intentionally designed to suppress the vote

Two former top Florida Republicans say a new law that shortened the early voting period in the state was designed by the GOP to suppress the Democratic vote, not to curb voter fraud, according to a report Monday from the Palm Beach Post.

The Palm Beach Post quoted Former Republican Party of Florida Chairman Jim Greer and former Gov. Charlie Crist, neither of whom is still a party member, and a handful of other party operatives, who said claims the law was designed to curb voter fraud in the state were merely a marketing ploy to provide cover for the party’s voter suppression efforts.

“The Republican Party, the strategists, the consultants, they firmly believe that early voting is bad for Republican Party candidates,” Greer told The Post. “It’s done for one reason and one reason only. … We’ve got to cut down on early voting because early voting is not good for us."

Greer told The Post that staffers and consultants in the Republican Party confirmed this to him personally.

“They never came in to see me and tell me we had a [voter] fraud issue,” he continued. “It’s all a marketing ploy.”

Greer has been indicted for stealing $200,000 from the state Republican Party, and stands accused of running a bogus fundraising operation. He denies the charges and is suing the party.

Republicans and Democrats at the state level battled throughout the election cycle over laws centered around voter identification and early voting periods that the GOP said were aimed at rooting out voter fraud. Democrats said the laws were meant to limit turnout among minorities and other members of its constituency.

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