Florida Senate Ready To Consider Elections Changes
TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami/NSF) -- The Florida Senate is ready to take up a plan to revamp elections laws, the latest chapter in a heavily partisan battle that has raged since 2020.
The Republican-controlled Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday approved the plan (SB 524), sending it to the full Senate as lawmakers prepare to enter the final two weeks of the annual legislative session.
Republican lawmakers and other supporters of the bill pointed to a need to combat election fraud and voting irregularities, a mantra of conservatives since former President Donald Trump lost his 2020 re-election bid.
Bill sponsor Travis Hutson, R-St. Augustine, acknowledged that Florida had a successful 2020 election but said the state needs to continue building on that.
"I don't want one illegal vote in the state of Florida, and I don't think we should be afraid of our elections being too secure," Hutson said.
But Democratic lawmakers and other opponents criticized parts of the bill, including the proposed creation of a state Office of Election Crimes and Security to investigate election irregularities — a priority of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. They raised the specter of voter intimidation and the state's past of authorities blocking Black people from casting ballots.
"All this is stoking fear," Sen. Audrey Gibson, D-Jacksonville, said. "It is wanting to cause division, not only in this state but in this country. As human beings, we are all better than being divided. This bill is what that does."
Hutson this week released a revised version of the bill, with the committee approving the changes Thursday.
One significant change removed a proposal to require people to use an additional envelope for mail-in ballots and include the last four digits of their driver's license numbers, Social Security numbers or state identification numbers — whichever number is on file with election supervisors' offices. Critics had said such requirements would confuse voters.
The revised bill would direct the secretary of state to work on a plan to "prescribe the use of a Florida driver license number, Florida identification card number, Social Security number, or any part thereof to confirm the identity of each elector returning a vote-by-mail ballot." The secretary of state would have to submit the plan by Jan. 1.
Other parts of the bill approved by the committee include:
— Creating the Office of Election Crimes and Security in the Department of State. The bill also would require the governor, working with the commissioner of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, to appoint special FDLE officers to investigate allegations of election violations, with at least one officer in each region of the state.
— Requiring that county supervisors of elections scour voter-registration lists each year, which would be more frequent than the current every-other-year requirement for what is known as list "maintenance." The bill also would set new requirements for confirming addresses of voters.
— Requiring $1,000 fines per violation for voter-registration organizations if members of the organizations change the party registrations of voters without consent. Sen. Annette Taddeo, D-Miami, pushed for that issue to be added to the bill, saying elderly residents in Miami-Dade County had their registrations changed without giving consent.
The House also has a version of the bill (HB 7061), which needs approval from the Appropriations Committee before it could go to the full House.
The proposals came after Republican lawmakers last year passed a controversial elections law that included changes in the vote-by-mail process. Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker is considering constitutional challenges that voting-right groups filed against the law.
The debate on Hutson's bill echoed many of the themes from last year, with Democrats questioning the need for the proposed changes after the 2020 elections.
"Can you cite any specific examples that necessitated these reforms, if you will, in this bill?" Sen. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg, asked during Thursday's meeting.
But Sen. Doug Broxson, R-Gulf Breeze, asked a different question as he backed the changes.
"Is this really not just insurance to the future rather than reaction to the past?" Broxson said.
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