Preface

Currently there is a media and messaging campaign exclusively hi-liting the few good things in this bill.  A more focused, critical review makes the bill problematic.  it will not be viewed positively by election integrity focused advocates who marshall the get out the vote and voters nationwide who are not already supporting Gov. DeSantis.

We like the good things, always.  However this is a swamp game we understand.  Put x small ‘goods’ in a bill for talking points & the rest of the bill undermines voters and supports the swampy politicians and their clients/lobbyists.  

However the bad things are an order of magnitude worse than the few good things. See below.

1. Official Information from governmental entities

SB 7050 unnecessarily limits the supervisor's duty to act to “official information” from “specified governmental entities.”

Prior to SB 7050, there were not any limitations on the sources of information that the supervisor may use to remove names from the voter rolls.  This means that supervisors would follow the established rules for removing names, but were not restricted on the sources of information that they could use.

We believe this limitation violates sunshine and silences the voice of Floridians from participating as Floridians are neither governmental entities and may not have “official information.”

Senate Bill Reference^[1]

2. Non US Citizens on the Voter Rolls are still able to vote

While the bill closed a few gaps, SB 7050 does not remedy the problem with non-US Citizens who are already on the voter rolls, continuing to vote in Florida. Additionally, there are still loop holes allowing new non U.S. Citizens to be able to register to vote.  We believe non-US Citizens should be prohibited from voting in Florida.

3. Application to register to vote by mail lacks basic safeguards

SB 7050 does not apply sufficient due process in vote by mail application. Consequently, a Neighborhood association identification, Retirement center identification are accepted. This will likely allow fraudulent vote-by-mail applicants.

Senate Bill Reference ^[2]

4. Removing legal address requirement

SB 7050 removes the requirement to send address confirmation requirements to a “legal address”.  This will likely allow false confirmations

Senate Bill Reference ^[3]

5. Allow option for hand re-count at Precinct Level for

Current law mandates the use of tabulators and prohibits hand count even at a single precinct. We think allowing at least a hand re-count when a power outage occurs will be wise.

Florida Statute Reference ^[4]

Additional Detail

You can see additional detail as well as screen shots of the bill by clicking here. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hh-dSoAZCB0Z2JgZDLIUKcAE_gMjgx9cNIqaHvmZSGo/edit