Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday announced that all Floridians who were were arrested or fined for violating mask mandates or social distancing requirements will be pardoned. In a 3-1 vote, the four-member Board of Executive Clemency approved the Republican governor’s decision to officially pardon those who were arrested or fined for violating local government orders. “This action is necessary so that we can recover, have a good transition to normal operations, and also just a recognition that a lot of this stuff was way, way overboard,” DeSantis said of the move. DeSantis said the pardon applies to civil and criminal penalties handed to individuals or businesses “punished for breaking unscientific, unnecessary directives.” Voting to deny the pardons was Democrat Nikki Fried, who is currently State Agriculture Commissioner and is running to unseat DeSantis next year. “Our local governments stepped up to protect the people of our state. They did …