Yet another flap between state officials and Florida’s county election supervisors is in the news, raising new questions about the motives of Republican Gov. Rick Scott and his appointee, Secretary of State Ken Detzner. Are they committed to making it easier for all eligible Floridians to vote or is their real goal to make it more difficult? So wondered U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, a Democrat, before meeting with Tampa Bay area elections supervisors. “I just don’t understand why the state keeps making it harder for people to vote,” he said. Good question. First, the governor signed a bill in 2011 that restricted the hours for early voting, raising the ire of county supervisors. They warned of lengthy delays for voters during the 2012 presidential election. They were so right that some voters in South Florida stood in line for eight hours just to exercise their constitutional right. That’s unconscionable. Then-Monroe County Elections Supervisor Harry Sawyer famously fought Scott on the early-voting issue (losing when the federal government sided with the governor), becoming somewhat of a folk hero nationwide for those who believe in more opportunity to vote, not less.
The governor and Detzner also tried to purge voter rolls before the presidential election — with disastrous results. The “purge” was so riddled with mistakes and misinformation that its instigators finally cancelled it.
Still, that didn’t deter Mr. Detzner from calling for one more purge in search of disqualified voters this year. This time, county supervisors simply refused to participate, saying the state was still using outdated data.
The latest controversy involves a 2014 state voting-guide rule regarding how voters can return absentee ballots.
Some supervisors, including current Monroe Elections Supervisor Joyce Griffin, allow ballots to be dropped off at remote locations staffed by elections officials, including at early-voting sites such as libraries.
Full Article: Elections supervisors need to battle to retain voting sites | Editorials | KeysNet.