Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Election law flip-flops in Florida Legislature
After a nearly perfect election cycle in 2020, Florida voters are now being informed by certain factions of the Florida Legislature that they, the Legislature, made a colossal mistake two years ago. In 2019, the Legislature passed an election law that allowed election supervisors to place drop boxes for vote-by-mail ballots at early voting sites. This law was a life saver, literally in some cases, as we voted in three elections during the COVID-19 pandemic. Drop boxes also provided reassurance to those voters who loved the idea of vote-by-mail but had worried that using the U.S. Postal Service would mean that their ballot would not reach their election office and be counted. Unfortunately, Senate Bill 90 has been filed in this legislative session, which states the supervisor “may not” allow drop boxes. I believe the correct term for this bill is “flip flop.” Why were drop boxes acceptable for 2020 but won’t be in the future?
The companion bill in the House, House Bill 7041, does allow drop boxes, but you would have to present your Florida driver license or Florida identification card to the employee or law enforcement officer monitoring the drop box. Why? Because the residence address on the return envelope of your vote-by-mail ballot must match the address on your license or ID card. What about people who have neither of these forms of identification when dropping off their ballot? According to HB 7041, you will have to complete another form while at the drop box to verify who you are. All of this will mean long lines just to drop off your ballot. This will not only discourage vote-by-mail, but is likely to discourage in-person voting also — long lines at early voting sites and polling locations is one reason people voted by mail prior to the pandemic.
Even worse, you will no longer be able to give your mailing envelope, with the voted ballot sealed inside, to anyone other than an immediate family member or a person you live with. Even they will have to provide a driver’s license or ID card with the same address as yours or sign a form vouching they are immediate family. So much for helping your elderly, house-bound mother, father or neighbor cast their vote!
SB 90 revokes something voters have likely already completed for the 2022 election cycle: requested a vote-by-mail ballot. To vote in 2022, you will have to make this request again. While HB 7041 has a bit more wiggle room, it still demands voters request vote-by-mail ballots every year instead of the current every two years. This is just another flip flop by the legislature.
SB 90 and HB 7041 also illustrate that some legislators are not familiar with the real world. If these bills pass, signatures on the outside of return envelopes with vote-by-mail ballots would have to match the “most recent” signature on file for the voter. This sounds reasonable, but it will increase the number of rejected vote-by-mail ballots. Currently, a voter has a number of signatures on file with the supervisor’s office that can be used for comparison — some where you have signed with a pen on a piece of paper and others where you have signed with a stylus on an electronic pad. Think about it. If your most recent signature on file was signed with a stylus, but the signature on you return envelope is done with a pen, how good would the match be?
These bills must be stopped. While the 2020 election cycle may not have been perfect, it was nearly perfect. Improvements in election laws are always welcome. However, overall, these bills are not an improvement over existing laws. The League of Women Voters of Florida and Broward County adamantly oppose these bills as currently written. Please contact your legislators, Senate President Wilton Simpson and Speaker of the House Chris Sprowls to inform them that SB 90 and HB 7041 should not be passed into law.
Monica Elliott is president of the League of Women Voters of Broward County.