Elections supervisors: Law would make voting harder.

The president of the Florida Supervisors of Elections called the election bill passed by the GOP-controlled Legislature late Thursday “unnecessary” and argued it would only make voting harder.

The bill, which would increase restrictions on drop boxes, require voters to sign up for mail-in ballots every year, and carry greater ID and signature restrictions, has been slightly watered down from the original proposed version, which would have banned all drop boxes. Gov. Ron DeSantis has said he would sign the bill.

Elections supervisors from both parties attacked it, with Republican Lake County supervisor Alan Hays telling legislators it was a “travesty” that would play “havoc with the lives of 1.5 million Floridians.”

But despite the easing of some restrictions, the bill still includes a ban on providing water or food to anyone waiting in line to vote, a limit to the number of mail-in ballots people could collect to drop off at voting sites, and a ban on supervisors taking any money from third-party groups.

“During this legislative session, Supervisors of Elections spent hours talking to legislators about how proposed legislation would impact voters,” wrote Hillsborough County Supervisor Craig Latimer, a Democrat who heads the statewide supervisors group, on Friday. “For example, in 2020 our voters overwhelmingly appreciated the peace of mind that came from dropping their mail ballot off in a secure drop box because they knew that by using the drop box instead of a mailbox, their ballot would be received on time.”

“We should be looking for cost-effective ways to expand their use, including the use of secure 24-hour drop boxes with camera surveillance,” Latimer wrote. “Instead, the new legislation prohibits that.”

Proposals that Latimer said would have been “the most disenfranchising,” such as canceling vote-bymail requests already on file, were ultimately dropped from the bill. But, he added, “this legislation still makes requesting Vote By Mail ballots and returning those ballots harder.”

Latimer echoed DeSantis’ own words after the 2020 election that the smooth process that year “finally vanquished the ghosts of Bush vs. Gore.”

But DeSantis and GOP legislators ended up following the lead of former President Trump, who falsely claimed there was massive voter fraud, and GOP-controlled legislatures nationwide which moved to enact voting restrictions.

State Rep. Blaise Ingoglia, R-Spring Hill, when asked for evidence of any fraud in the state, said, “I don’t know, but I’m sure it was going on,” according to the New York Times.

“Throughout this legislative process, legislators who supported and opposed the bill commended our performance in 2020, over and over,” Latimer said.