Those familiar with Florida elections see a greater reliance on mail voting and extended early-voting periods to space out crowds and reduce coronavirus risks during the August and November elections.
But an attempt at all-mail balloting this year seems out of the question, according Tammy Jones, president of the Florida Supervisors of Elections. Jones earlier this month sent a letter to Gov. Ron DeSantis about problems encountered during the March presidential preference primary as Covid-19 worries rose.
“While we anticipate that some level of in-person voting will continue, we believe that based on our March 17, 2020, election, alternatives or additional voting methods must be available to counties,” she wrote. “We must also advise you that Florida is not in a position, at this time, to conduct an all-mail ballot election this year.”
Professor Michael McDonald
She urged state officials to make more early voting sites available in communities and to allow counties to begin early voting more than three weeks before the August and November elections.
Jones’ recommendations, however, likely won’t satisfy the Florida ACLU, which has urged the state to acquire signature-matching software to reduce the number of false rejections of mail-in ballots. The ACLU also wants Florida to provide alerts to voters about any problems with their mail-in ballots, lengthened early-voting periods, and social-distancing procedures and other protections during in-person voting.
Florida likely doesn’t have the capacity and equipment to transition quickly to an all-mail vote this year, according to Dr. Michael McDonnald, associate professor of political science at the University of Florida. The federal government could provide the state with funds to move in that direction, but time is running out.
“Even if Florida is able to get money, then it has to be piped on down to the counties,” McDonald told the Record. “... Unfortunately, the door is closing to go to an all-mail ballot election.”
All-mail elections are a more efficient option than in-person voting, he said, adding that the risk of fraud is very low, costs are less and fraud protections can be built into digitized signature-verification systems.
Florida has had issues with verification of ballot signatures, with about 1 percent of them being rejected in past years. Problems with signatures changing often involve young people, whose writing style matures as they move into adulthood, and elderly voters who have had an illness, such as a stroke, according to McDonald.
In addition, some communities, such as those with disabilities, may need in-person assistance to cast ballots, so the all-mail option wouldn’t work for them, he said.
Voters will need an array of options as the August primary and November general election approach, according to McDonald.
“We don’t need to have the train wreck we saw in Wisconsin,” he said.
A spokesman for the state Department of State said his office is now working cooperatively with county supervisors of elections to ensure the upcoming elections are safe and fair.