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Florida will allow Lee, Charlotte and Sarasota counties to create “super voting” sites, increase early voting for a few days and mail ballots to the electorate at addresses.
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By Neil Vigdor
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday that the state will implement election regulations for the three counties hardest hit by Hurricane Ian, allowing them to create “super polling places” and increase early voting in a few days.
On Wednesday, he signed an emergency order that will also allow voters in southwest Florida counties (Lee, Charlotte and Sarasota) to request by phone that their mail-in ballots be sent elsewhere in the file.
DeSantis’ resolution came two weeks after Hurricane Ian made landfall as a category four typhoon along the Gulf Coast, causing more than a hundred deaths in Florida and widespread destruction, adding early voting sites and electoral districts.
Election officials expected many of those sites to be unavailable, placing another burden on staff who had faced threats and misinformation in the past.
The ordinance cited a dire scenario in Lee County, where it claimed the county’s election leader had reported that some polling stations on Election Day were viable after the storm.
In addition to asset damage, state election officials said their paintings were hampered by voter movement, voter shortages and disruptions to telecommunications and other public services.
Under the order, Lee, Charlotte and Sarasota counties will be able to relocate and consolidate polling stations, creating so-called “super polling stations” to serve displaced voters from storm-ravaged districts.
The ordinance also allows counties to propose early voting from Oct. 24 through Election Day, Nov. 8. Previously, the deadline was November 6.
In an effort to recruit more skilled election officials in all 3 counties, the order will allow those who had fun in the 2020 election or have worked in the election since then to be eligible to do so in November. State workers were also encouraged through the governor to serve as election officials.
For all three counties, DeSantis suspended the requirement that requests be made in writing for those who want mail-in ballots mailed to a front other than the one registered for them. Now they can make those requests over the phone, but they will. you still want to provide a driver’s license number, identification number, or the last 4 digits of your Social Security number.
Lifted a restriction on mail-in ballot transmission in all 3 counties.
A similar order was signed after Hurricane Michael in 2018, when then-Governor Rick Scott, who is now a U. S. senator, was signed in the wake of Hurricane Michael. In the U. S. , it relaxed election regulations in 8 counties along the Panhandle.
Mark S. Earley, president of the National Association of Election Supervisors, said Thursday that while the governor’s order took a little longer to issue than the 2018 one, it addressed the group’s concerns.
“With this order, we have the flexibility to provide all voters with an available opportunity to vote and have their voices heard at the polls, while maintaining mandatory procedural integrity so that those constituents have confidence that the election is conducted fairly, independently and safely,” said Mr. Earley, a top election official in Leon County, who was outdoors in the direct wake of the hurricane.
DeSantis, a Republican, to election regulations for some affected counties contrasted with his general push for more inflexible election policies in Florida.
Last year, DeSantis signed voting restrictions into law limiting the use of mailboxes where voters can cast their vote by mail and added more identity requirements for anyone applying for a mail-in ballot. The law also requires voters to request their vote by mail. -on ballots for a two-year election cycle, which one and both 4 years.
Democrats and civil liberties teams have criticized the 2021 restrictions, arguing that they make it harder for voters, especially those of color, to vote.
DeSantis, who will be re-elected this year, also led the creation of a new state office for election crime and security. In August, he announced that another 17 people were charged with voting illegally in the 2020 election, in which 11. 1 million Floridians voted.
The move also sparked a backlash, with critics saying the vast majority of those charged were black and that election officials had told them in the past they had the right to vote.
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