“We’re asking all of these moms and grandmoms to come from wherever it might be, North Carolina, South Carolina and to descend upon the state of Iowa to be a part of the caucus,” she said, citing a Mamas for DeSantis coalition of 1.1 million mothers and grandmothers she said was influential in Florida during his 2022 re-election.
“You do not have to be a resident of Iowa to be able to participate in the caucus. So moms and grandmas are going to be able to come and be a part and let their voice be heard and support Ron.”
Unfortunately for Ron DeSantis, who has made clamping down on perceived election fraud a central plank of his second term in the Florida governor’s mansion, they cannot. Iowa law, as the state’s Republican party was forced to point out in a tweet, restricts caucus voting to legal residents of the state with photo ID, and Iowa students living out of state who can choose where they register.
Michael McDonald, an elections specialist and professor of political science at the University of Florida, was among those pointing out that non-Iowans who tried to do so would be breaking the law.
“Just Casey DeSantis encouraging people to cross a border and vote illegally in Iowa,” he wrote in a tweet.