We can’t continue with the status quo,” said Scott Arceneaux, a former Florida Democratic Party executive who helped push Democrats’ voter advantage over Republicans to 560,000 during President Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign.
And Democrats are calling on deep-pocketed donors to give up their usual tax-deductible donations to the nonprofits that register voters in nonpartisan efforts — often known by their federal tax code number, 501c3 — and divert some of their money to the state party or into independent “dark money” 501c4 political operations that, without disclosing donors, can push a partisan message.
But this summer, for the first time since the state began tracking third-party voter registration organizations, the Republican National Committee signed up to register voters in the state.
Gruters, a state senator and 2016 co-chairman of Trump’s Florida campaign, said the party has dedicated 16 employees to registering voters across the state, and hired Matt Parker, a field strategist who worked for Gov. Ron DeSantis’ campaign, as a $180,000-a-year registration director.