With new Florida election law changes, voter education is essential

From Washington, D.C., to state capitols across the country, new elections proposals in more than 40 states, including Florida, have received widespread criticism. Observers point to what they say is a pattern of voter suppression tactics by state legislators.

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But according to AARP advocates and representatives of other voting advocacy groups, the new Florida elections law could have been worse. In fact, the legislation was worse, until last-minute changes the Florida Legislature addressed, including a provision that seemed likely to hurt the ability of many older Floridians to cast their ballots.

An apparent clerical error (the legislative term is “scrivener’s error”) in the final draft of the legislation could have banned supervised voter-assistance teams going to elder-care facilities to help voters cast their ballots. The teams have been a fixture of Florida election law for many years. With many of these frail elders unable to personally go to the polls, the practical effect of the change could have been that these older residents would see their ability to vote seriously limited.

But AARP Associate State Director Zayne Smith caught a five-word error in a 50-page amendment to the legislation during debate on the state Senate floor. Smith texted two state senators about the issue, asking if the lawmakers really wanted to ban the teams. 

They didn’t. Debate in the Senate came to a halt as the bill’s managers huddled to fix that error. The final bill, passed by both the House and Senate and signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis, continues to allow voter-assistance teams to work with long-term care facility residents to help them vote on Election Day.

AARP Florida formally opposed the legislation, as did the League of Women Voters of Florida (LWVF) and other voting-rights advocates. Patricia Brigham, LWVF’s president is blunt: “It’s a power grab,” she says. “We believe these bills are being written and are being passed to restrict the number of voters. It’s outright voter suppression.”

AARP Florida State Director Jeff Johnson says AARP’s focus now turns to educating voters, “We want older Floridians and their families to understand what these changes mean for them in practice as they prepare to visit the polls come election season. It’s paramount that they’re aware of how these new changes will impact their voting experience.”

Among the provisions of the new law, advocates say these are problematic:

• Drop-box limitations: Under the new law, ballot drop-boxes may only be used during early-voting hours, rather than being placed in public locations for voters to drop off vote-by-mail ballots at their convenience. In November 2020, concerns about timely mail delivery of ballots led many voters to personally drop off their completed ballots in these drop boxes. In addition, county elections staff now must personally supervise the drop-boxes, although the legislature did not fund elections supervisors to fulfill this new requirement.
  
• New requirements for vote-by-mail ballots:  Under the new law, voters must request a vote-by-mail ballot every election cycle. Previously, state law allowed two elections cycles, or four years, to pass before a voter had to renew a request to vote by mail.
  

• New requirements for vote-by-mail ballot voter identification: When requesting a vote-by-mail ballot or when making changes to voter registration information such as an address change, voters now must provide their Florida driver’s license number or state identification number, or if they don’t have a driver license or state ID, the last four numbers of their Social Security number. Some older voters may be hesitant to use their Social Security number or other identifying information because of the prevalence of scams in Florida. The new provisions also create the possibility that scammers posing as elections officials will contact voters, demanding identification information.
  

• New restrictions on who can deliver a ballot to elections officials. Under the new law, you may only carry your own vote-by-mail ballot, those of “immediate” family members, and those of no more than two others. Smith notes that “immediate family members” means only a spouse, parent, child, grandparent or grandchild – so you could not legally help an aunt, uncle or cousin submit a vote-by-mail ballot if you have more than two other non-family members’ ballots.  
  
  
• Warnings about voter-registration organizations: For 101 years, the League of Women Voters has been helping voters register to vote, often at local public events. Under the new law, the League and all other voter-registration organizations will have to warn potential voters that the organization may not deliver their voter-registration form to elections officials in time to be accepted. Voter-registration organizers also will be required to tell prospective voters that they can register to vote online, even though they could do so in person at the event.
  

The most fundamental question asked by voter-rights advocates in the wake of the new law, though, is this: Why was a new Florida elections law needed? 

“After the 2020 elections, there was pretty much unanimous agreement that Florida did it right,” says Smith. “There were no real problems with fraud or early voting. Florida Secretary of State Laurel M. Lee testified before the legislature confirming the security of Florida’s election process.” 

Smith notes that during legislative testimony on the bill, Leon County Supervisor of Elections Mark Earley testified that the legislation would make the jobs of elections supervisors more difficult and pose challenges – with no new funding to help supervisors cope with the new requirements. In fact, Early said, elections supervisors agreed the bills weren’t really needed.

Johnson says that AARP is committed to continuing to spread the word to its members and all Floridians to ensure they have multiple opportunities to learn about these changes and how to overcome them.