Florida Election Law

The latest in Florida Election Law issues, cases, legislation, and news.

A personal blog of

Ken Tinkler.

  

  

 

Copyright 2016 Ken Tinkler

Changes to Florida Election Law pass House 118-1, head to the Senate

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CS/HB 7013, with changes to the Florida Election Code, passed the state House of Representatives 118-1, the changes include:

  • Expands the ability of military member returning from deployment to register to vote after the typical deadline.
  • Limits the ballot summary of constitutional amendments proposed by the Legislature to the 75 word length imposed on others.
  • Expands the list of possible early voting locations to include “fairground, civic center, courthouse, county commission building, stadium, or convention center.”
  • Expands potential early voting days.
  • Alters absentee ballot processing procedure.
  • Alters canvassing board appointment process to include alternates. 
  • Alters voting tabulation technical requirements.

Despite the 118-1 vote approval, media reports (St. Augustine Record, Tampa Bay Times, CBS Miami) continue to show a partisan split on additional election reform ideas.  House Staff Analysis of the Bill.

Florida Senate Hearing on 2012 Election issues

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The Florida Senate’s Committee on Ethics and Elections held a hearing on January 14, 2013 on Florida’s 2012 election experience.  Addressing the Committee were a selection of Supervisors of Elections from throughout the State.  The hearing is available as a podcast and the 407 pages of hearing materials have been posted online.  An article from the Miami Herald about the hearing is available.

 

Miami-Dade Grand Jury Report related to absentee ballots

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The Miami-Dade County Grand Jury was convened to look at election laws after allegations of absentee ballots irregularities during the August 2012 primary.  Their report has been published and includes recommendations to the Legislature and Miami-Dade County including:

  • Restoring the prior requirement that absentee ballots be witnessed.
  • Adding a new requirement for a declaration from anyone who assists an elector with their absentee ballot.
  • Increasing the hours for early voting.
  • Repealing the permanent absentee vote list by which individuals can request that they be mailed ballots each election without another request.
  • Removing the ability of political parties to receive absentee ballot information.

Senate Judiciary Committee begins election review

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On December 19th, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing entitled “The State of the Right to Vote After the 2012 Election.”  Included on the panel was a current Florida U.S. Senator and the previous Florida Governor, whose written testimony has been posted.  The Tampa Bay Times reports on the hearing and includes a quote from the current Governor stating that the number of early voting days needs to be reviewed.

Talk of Election Reform continues…

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So far, three bills have been filed for the 2013 Legislative Session related to elections:

In Miami-Dade, the County Mayor has appointed a citizen’s Mayor’s Election Advisory Group.  The Miami Herald reported on their first meeting.  Their next meeting is December 14th, with an “after-action” report expected from the Supervisor of Elections with reports already surfacing that precinct distribution may have led to some of the issues. 

The Sun Sentinel reports that legislative committee meetings have begun, but, to no one’s surprise, so far there appears to be partisan disagreement about the reasons for the delays in ballot counting in parts of the state.  The Secretary of State has begun a tour of elections offices, but the incoming Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections has already questioned the effectiveness of the department’s approach, according to the Tampa Bay Times.  TBT’s PolitiFact also looked at the Secretary’s recent comment about turnout.

Mostly done counting in Florida & calls for reform

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With the State of Florida’s 1st set of Unofficial Returns published, most major media outlets called the Presidential race for President Obama.  The percentage difference between the candidates was larger than the amount that would trigger any kind of recount and any remaining ballots would not be of enough quantity to change the outcome. 

The media coverage of Florida has not been kind, and calls for changes have begun.  Notably, former Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections and former Mayor of Tampa Pam Iorio has called for reform on her Facebook page, while the Palm Beach Post reports that groups that have litigated with the State previously over election law issues have also called for changes and a federal investigation.  The Governor of Florida issued a statement asking the Secretary of State to review the Florida election process.

Yes, Florida is still counting votes…

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I’ll post more on the various issues that occured last night, but yes, Florida is still counting votes for the Presidential and other races – but that is normal.  Despite false rumors to the contrary, Florida does count every vote that comes in, including late absentee. provisional, and military/overseas ballots.  That process takes many days after the election and the final results will not be certified on the state and local level until all of the ballots are processed.  There are still various races throughout the state within the margin of error for potential recounts, so some results in local races may change.  As of this writing, Florida is the only “uncalled” state in the Presidential race, but given the wide separation in electoral votes, Florida’s 29 electoral votes will not decide that election this time. 

State vote counts will continue to be posted on the State’s website and on individual Supervisor of Elections websites.

Early Voting Ends, Disputes Continue

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With the Governor taking no action on requests for an extension of early voting, the early voting process ended on Saturday evening (or Sunday morning, depending how long it took to allow every in line at closing time to vote at individual locations).  Absentee voting at election offices continued on Sunday (in Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, Hillsborough, Orange and Pinellas) and Monday, but ballots could no longer be mailed in and be certain to arrive by 7pm on Tuesday, so these voters need to deliver  their absentee ballots directly to the appropriate Supervisor of Elections office.

ABC/AP reports Early Voting was extended by a court order on Sunday in one location in Orange County because an early voting site had a temporary closure during the day on Saturday due to a security issue.  The Florida Democratic Party announced it had filed a federal lawsuit seeking to extend voting hours.  More from Politico, NYT, & the  Miami Herald,