FACT CHECK: Anthony Sabatini Voted Against Budget With Funding for Election Security and Removing Illegals

August 8, 2022 Updated 2:43 P.M. ET

TALLAHASSEE (FLV) – A political mailer claims State Rep. Anthony Sabatini voted against the budget to remove illegal immigrants from Florida and money for securing elections.

VERDICT: True. State Rep. Anthony Sabatini was the only Republican to vote against the state legislature’s budget that Gov. Ron DeSantis later signed after making changes.

Anthony Sabatini is running against a crowded field of candidates to win the Republican primary for Florida’s 7th Congressional District.

Claim: By voting with Democrats, Sabatini opposed funding to remove illegals from Florida and secure elections from fraud

The signed budget includes $12 million for a program within the Florida Department of Transportation to remove illegal immigrants from Florida.

It also includes $8 million for the Supervisors of Elections to continue cybersecurity initiatives and improvements to their systems, $2 million for security improvements and enhancements to election technology, and $575,000 for the Department of State to continue the contract with the Electronic Information Center to improve the accuracy of voter registration rolls.

Florida’s budget passed the House 105 to 3. Sabatini was the only Republican to vote against the budget along with Democrats Rep. Michael Grieco and Rep. Dotie Joseph. Twelve members of the House did not vote for the budget. The Florida Senate unanimously approved the budget with six members not voting.

Sabatini responded to the political mailer by saying he stood with DeSantis by voting against the “wasteful” budget.

“Here’s the reality- RINOs in the Legislature TRASHED DeSantis budget proposal, which was for a $99 Billion budget,” Sabatini said. “Instead they produced a bloated $110+ Billion Dollar budget instead, full of corrupt lobbyist projects, wasteful spending & record breaking funding for Marxist ‘universities,'” Sabatini said.

On the day of the budget vote in March, Sabatini called on DeSantis to veto the “corrupt, lobbyist-written budget- which is full of special interest garbage.” He also criticized the 10.4% spending increase in one year.

Sabatini praised the governor for vetoing $3.1 billion from the budget the state legislature sent him. DeSantis said the veto will help prepare the state for any economic downturn caused by federal policies.