In a recent directive regarding absentee ballots, Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner once again created controversy where none was necessary. That’s becoming a habit for Florida elections officials, who have made repeated, error-filled attempts to purge the state’s rolls of voters wrongly identified as suspect. At least this time, facing a revolt by angry local elections officials, Detzner quickly backtracked on his absentee-ballot rule. Maybe this latest stumble will signal the end of the state elections office’s efforts to fix voting policies that aren’t broken. Let’s hope so — for the voters’ and the local supervisors’ sake. The latest tempest arose Nov. 25 when Detzner, who oversees Florida’s elections office, said elections supervisors “should not solicit return of absentee ballots at any place other than a supervisor’s office.”
Detzner said that he was responding to queries from supervisors in Pasco and Clay counties and that his aim was to ensure that state election laws are uniformly enforced.
But county elections supervisors, who weren’t consulted beforehand and who struggle to handle a growing number of absentee ballots, were incensed.
Defiant supervisors
Chief among them was Deborah Clark of Pinellas County who, like many local supervisors, has created multiple drop-off sites for absentee ballots in recent years in addition to her offices. Those sites, at public libraries and tax collector offices, are staffed by deputy supervisors and provide locked ballot boxes with numbered seals.
Full Article: Ballot confusion | HeraldTribune.com.