The long-awaited Republican response to the long lines that plagued many Florida precincts was turned in today. It’s a bill sponsored by Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, R-Miami, that adds a day of early voting — the Sunday before the election. The Republican controlled Legislature and Gov. Rick Scott had been criticized nationally for reducing the number of early voting days from 14 in 2008 to eight days. Though Republicans had been resistant to add early voting days as a way to reduce long lines before November’s election, they have since said they would consider expanding the number of days.
Diaz de la Portilla’s bill adds one day of early voting and adds two hours of early voting per day at each site to 14 for a general election. The bill requires each of the 67 supervisors of elections to inform the state of their preparations three months before a general election. The report is required to include staffing levels for early voting, Election Day, and after Election Day, as well as a rundown of the equipment used to tabulate votes at each site.
Democrats, two from Tampa Bay and one from South Florida, have filed three other bills that seek to expand early voting by even more. All of them seek to allow for more early voting sites, which are currently limited to certain government buildings that often can’t handle the crowds in big counties. The proposals have almost identical language. Consider Miami Sen. Gwen Margolis SB 82, which says early voting could take place in “any city hall, public library facility, courthouse, place of worship, civic center, convention center, community center, county government center, conference center, community college facility, university or college, or any other location designated by the supervisor as meeting the requirements of this section.”
Full Article: Republicans file their first bill to address elections reform in 2013 | Florida politics blog: The Buzz | Tampa Bay Times.