NBC News: “A Republican in Florida’s Legislature has filed a bill that, if enacted, would eliminate the Florida Democratic Party.
“The Ultimate Cancel Act,” filed Tuesday by state Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, would require the state’s Division of Elections to “immediately cancel” the filings of any political party whose platform had “previously advocated for, or been in support of, slavery or involuntary servitude.”
The bill, called SB 1248, would require Florida officials to notify all registered voters who belong to any canceled parties that their parties no longer exist. It would also change their voter registrations to “no party affiliation” and “provide procedures” for those voters to update their affiliations to “an active political party.”
The bill would allow any canceled political parties to re-register with the Florida State Department — but only under the condition that the party change its name to something “substantially different from the name of any other party previously registered” with the agency.
The proposed legislation doesn’t explicitly mention the Democratic Party. But the party, throughout much of the early and mid-1800s, supported slavery. Southern Democrats in particular supported protecting slavery in the U.S. and opposed civil rights reforms for decades after the Civil War. The party underwent a major realignment in the 19th century, and support for such policies has been absent from its platform or general discourse for many years. “