A Florida Senate bill “moving at the speed of light” would purge the permanent vote-by-mail request lists in every county by July — and could disenfranchise close to 100,000 Miami-Dade voters with elections this year in Virginia Gardens, Homestead, Miami, Miami Beach and Hialeah.
Not so fast, said the Miami-Dade Commission, which on Tuesday passed a resolution, sponsored by Commissioner Raquel Regalado, opposing SB90. She also wanted to urge the legislature to — at the very least — change the effective date to Jan. 1, 2022, if they are to pass the bill.
Regalado, who is lobbying the Miami-Dade delegation on the bill, said the timing was unfair because voters in cities with elections before July — like Coral Gables (April) and Sweetwater (May) — would get their absentee or vote-by-mail ballots and those with elections after July would have to request new ones. The unlucky are:
- 396 voters in Virginia Gardens with elections Sept. 14
- 7,561 voters in Homestead with elections Oct. 5
- 15,719 in Miami Beach with elections Nov. 2
- 25,279 in Hialeah with elections Nov. 2
- 58,049 in Miami with elections Nov. 2
And they won’t even know it. People who requested absentee ballots last year were given an option to get ABs for two years of elections, Regalado said. That’s how the county has a “permanent” list.
“They expect to get one,” she said, adding that the county will have to spend approximately $400,000 to inform and create awareness, so that people know they have to request ballots again.
Read related: Absentee ballots will be bigger than ever for elections in time of COVID19
Also, Regalado found that senior voters are disproportionately affected because they do not have the same ease and familiarity with the internet. Of the voters on the permanent AB list, about half are over 60.
“People under 60 are just going to be able to go online and get another one,” she said, adding that it would be more difficult for those 61 and over.
Commissioners Eileen Higgins, Kionne McGhee and Sally Heyman wanted stronger language, not just a change on the effective date. The change, if effective in January, would still affect more than 400,000 voters who are scheduled to receive absentee ballots for the 2022 primary and general.
Heyman reminded the commission that the Florida Association of Counties and election supervisors statewide oppose the measure.
“It is expensive. It is a chilling effect for elections,” Heyman said, adding that Miami-Dade Elections Supervisor Christina White was honored recently for having coordinated a problem-free election with a historic number of absentee ballots, which were counted within an hour or so.
“Everybody knows what Sen. Baxley is doing,” Heyman said referring to the bill’s sponsor, Dennis Baxley (R-Lady Lake). “This should be a full out opposition. Not a request for an extension. It needs to be left alone.”
Read related: More than half a mil Miami-Dade vote-by-mail, absentee ballots favor Dems
It is rather insulting and perhaps even dangerous that the legislature wants to change the way we get our ballots all of a sudden. Is this a solution in search of a problem? Or is it because they didn’t like the way the election turned out? Because Democrats are finally getting the hang of ABs?
The bill seemingly violates the rights of voters if effective retroactively. Is there a legal challenge here?
But Regalado said that “elections is the complete and total domain of our partners at the state,” and that the bill had been received positively in committee. She doesn’t want full opposition to sideline the postponement.
“This thing is moving at the speed of light and it is going to pass,” she warned.
“I’m just concerned that if we just say we’re against it and don’t propose an alternative, it’s going to pass and we will have this chaotic situation.”
The Democrat commissioners beat out the Republican moderate and the resolution was changed to just opposing the Republican measure, without changing the deadline.
Let’s just hope that the message was heard loud and clear.
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