Florida voters, renew your mail-in voting status
If you’re a Florida voter, and you vote by mail, there’s an action item you need to take: Last January, Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill passed by Florida’s Republican majority legislature to make it harder to vote. Specifically, the new law cancels automatic mail-in voting status for those who voted by mail in 2020 or 2022, and requires such voters to contact their county Board of Elections and make a new request for a mail-in ballot for the 2024 elections. The new Florida law also reduces the number of ballot drop boxes and implements stricter voter identification requirements.
The intent behind these voting restrictions, sadly, is to make it harder for many voters, especially likely Democratic voters, to cast their votes. Republicans across the country know that their policies are less popular with the voters, thus they can only win by cheating, stealing elections, and/or suppressing votes. Moreover, Republicans think (maybe erroneously) that in recent elections, they typically hold the lead as to in-person votes on Election Day, but when mail-in votes are counted (often after the polls close), Democrats pull in more votes and often end up winning. This has led to conspiracy theories by Republicans that somehow such elections are “stolen,” which is silly given that, in addition to the complete lack of evidence to support the charge, in Florida and many other states the relevant statewide offices (Governor, Secretary of State, etc.), and therefore the elections themselves, are controlled by Republicans.
Accordingly, if you are a Democratic voter in Florida, please call your county Board of Elections (the contact information should be easy to find online) to make sure your voter registration is up to date and to request mail-in voting status for 2024 if desired. Likewise, remind your Democratic friends and family members in Florida to do so too. Make a plan for the 2024 elections (including presidential primaries and the general election) to make sure your vote is properly cast and received on time. If you are a Republican voter, feel free to ignore all of this as “fake news.”
Photo by Tony Webster, used under Creative Commons license. https://is.gd/kxQ2vq
