Diaz-Balart: H.R. 1 is Not For the People

WASHINGTON, D.C. ­­-- Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart (FL-25) issued the following statement regarding H.R. 1, 'For the People Act.'

'In 1997, the City of Miami had a mayoral election thrown out due to absentee ballot and ballot harvesting fraud. Since then, Florida took steps to fix its election system and prevent this fraud from happening again. Now, Florida's elections are among the most secure, fair, and trusted in the country. H.R.1 seeks to overturn these changes and make all the practices that Florida once deemed illegal standard procedures for our nation to follow. Additionally, this bill takes all of the worst procedural election changes from 2020, which were purportedly temporary due to the COVID-19 emergency, and makes them permanent.

'If signed into law, H.R.1 would legalize ballot harvesting and disregard voter ID laws. It would also mandate that taxpayer dollars be spent on funding political campaigns. The money of hardworking Americans should not be used by politicians to support their campaigns. A thriving democracy depends on much more than just elections- it requires trust, transparency, and fairness in our election process. Instead of trying to pass a bill that would expand opportunities for corruption and fraud while further diminishing trust in the integrity of the election process, we should focus on working to rebuild and strengthen that trust- using Florida as an example.'

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