The New Florida Voting and Election Laws

The New Florida Voting and Election Laws. After the 2020 election, Governor Ron DeSantis and Republicans said the Florida election was “a model for the nation,” a “gold standard,” with no evidence of fraud. Despite this the Republican legislature, via a party-line vote, made changes to the Florida voting and election laws in the name of voting security. The Governor, a likely candidate for president in 2024, signed the changes to the voting laws in front of an exclusive Fox media event. County election officials (both Democrats and Republicans), who met in Tampa to discuss the new laws, were critical and referred to the changes as a “solution looking for a problem.” They commented on how some of the changes were “unworkable” and “vague.” The Leon Country Election Supervisor stated that it “seems to disenfranchise voters.” The changes have already been challenged in court by the Florida Alliance for Retired Americans, the League of Women Voters, the ACLU of Florida, the NAACP and Common Cause, the Black Voters Matter Fund, HeadCount and the Harriet Tubman Freedom Fighter Corporation, and the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Fair Elections Center. More court challenges will likely follow. So, let’s look at a few of the changes.

Many of the changes are focused on mail-in voting which has been very popular in Florida for almost 20 years. Thirty percent of Floridians voted by mail in 2016 and 46 percent in 2020. Part of that increase was likely due to the COVID pandemic. It should also be noted that in 2016 and 2018 elections, most of the mail-in ballots were cast by self-identified Republicans. That changed during the COVID election of 2020 when most of the mail-in ballots were cast by self-identified Democrats. This could be explained by the fact that then President Trump urged Republicans not to vote via mail-in ballots but rather to vote in-person on Election Day. The new law prevents Florida election officials from sending mail-in ballots to all registered voters as is the practice in several states. It prevents election officials from sending mail-in ballots to anyone who has not requested one. In Pinellas and Hillsborough counties (Biden won both of these counties), election officials in 2020 mailed ballots to registered voters who had not requested a mail-in ballot believing that mail-in voting was safer because of the pandemic. This will no longer be allowed.

Voters in Florida must request a mail in ballot for each general election. Previously the request was good for two general election cycles. The request can be made by mail, telephone, or the internet. To request to vote by mail, an individual must now provide a valid Florida driver license number, a state ID number or the last four digits of a Social Security number whichever may be verified in state records. Prior to this a person only needed to submit his/her name, address, and date of birth that could be verified by state records. More than 2 million Floridians are driving on a suspended driver’s license and I note that the evidence and research clearly and overwhelmingly indicates that increasing voter identification requirements has a negative effect on voting turnout by the poor and people of color.

Many mail-in voters drop off their ballots in an official ballot box rather than sending it through the mail. The law places new restrictions on the use of ballot boxes. In some counties, ballot boxes were open 24 hours and monitored by camera surveillance after official hours by local police officials. This will no longer be allowed. The law requires election supervisors to assign an employee to monitor all ballot drop boxes and creates a $25,000 penalty if they fail to do so. Drop boxes are only to be accessible at the same time as early voting hours, meaning voters cannot use drop boxes after hours.

The new law prohibits people who would help others drop off vote-by-mail ballots (called ballot harvesting) from possessing more than two vote-by-mail ballots other than their own, unless they belong to immediate family members. This also applies to assisted living facilities and nursing homes. County election officials questioned how to enforce this provision and it should be noted that Republicans have allowed ballot harvesting since 2001.

As explained above, all mail-in ballot drop boxes must be monitored by an election official. This will increase the need for more election workers and increase election costs. Local election officials must make sure their online voter registration system can handle a large influx of traffic immediately before registration deadlines and also requires that they take proper security precautions to prevent hacking. This is already done in all the counties of Florida. It requires local election officials to provide live Election Day turnout data to the state Division of Elections at least every hour, and requires the division to post the data on its website.

The new law gives election observers the right to watch the duplication of a damaged ballot and to challenge the duplication. It gives candidates, political parties, political committees or their designee the right to view voting materials such as vote by mail envelopes before they are tabulated. These requirements were viewed as “vague” and “unworkable” by county election officials.

The new law requires third-party voter registration groups (think campus registration drives by the League of Women Voters) to inform people they can also register online and sets tighter deadlines for when registration cards must be turned in. The law, in part, requires the organizations to inform voter-registration applicants that the organizations might not meet legal deadlines for delivering forms to elections officials. There is no evidence that these third party groups have ever been late in meeting legal deadlines for delivering forms to election officials. Several third party groups have filed suit against this in federal district court in Tallahassee, contending that the law requires a “misleading warning” and violates First Amendment rights. Third party registration drives have consistently proven to be most effective in increasing the number of registered voters in states

Other changes require voters to provide, in addition to their date of birth which was previous practice, the last four digits of their Social Security number or their driver license or state ID card number to make an address change. The Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles is required to help the Department of State in identifying changes in residence address on a driver license or identification card. The Department of State must report each such to the appropriate supervisor of elections. There was no evidence of anyone committing voter fraud based upon an incorrect address.

There are other changes in the 48 page document but these are the most controversial and are being challenged in court. Finally, I note that the changes could have been much more egregious (think Georgia, Arizona, Iowa, and others). As of June 19 of this year, 14 states (not Florida) have passed laws that either strip the Secretary of State (traditionally the top state election official) of powers or assert legislative control over local and statewide election boards; or have created easier methods to overturn election results.

All of these Republican led changes to voting laws in Florida and other states across the country are driven by the Big Lie and the fact that demographic changes in America are working against a Republican Party that chooses to do little to appeal to people of color and other minorities who will be the majority in the US by 2035. These efforts will make it more difficult to vote for many people and will politicize elections in the United States. They are a clear and present danger to American democracy.

If you want to read the Florida election law changes yourself go to https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2021/90