Florida Department of State Issues Mail-In Voting Report, Recommendations

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at the Republican Jewish Coalition Annual Leadership Meeting in Las Vegas, Nev., on Nov. 19, 2022. (Wade Vandervort/AFP via Getty Images)

The Florida Department of State has recommended updating the state’s mail-in voting process through implementation of uniform application forms for mail-in ballots and verification of personally identifying information of people who request such ballots.

The Florida Legislature enacted Senate Bill 524 in 2022, which required the state to look into how a voter could include personal identification information on their return envelope when submitting a mail-in ballot in order to ensure vote integrity.

In its report on the matter submitted Feb. 1 (pdf), the department recommended several legislative proposals, including the enactment of a uniform application form for vote-by-mail ballot requests, which must include information like the voter’s state ID, driver’s license, or the last four digits of their Social Security number, as well as reaffirmation of their legal residential address and a signature.

The department said local supervisors of elections should verify the personal identifying number in a vote-by-mail ballot request against relevant records with the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.

Once the verification is done, the number must be added to the voter’s registration record in case it is already not recorded, the department stated.

“This is our recommendation for populating such numbers into the Florida Voter Registration System for those registered voters who do not have those numbers on file,” the report said.

“This process would build on election integrity measures adopted in 2021 which require voters to submit a personal identifying number whenever updating an address, name, or party in the voter’s record. This also would ensure that these personal identifying numbers are consistent across voter and voting records.”

Additional Recommendations

The report recommended requiring supervisors of elections to verify a voter’s signature appearing on mail-in ballot requests. It also asked for the elimination of requests for mail-in ballots by phone.

The department also said that first-time voters should be requried to vote in person if they completed their voter registration through the mail, have never voted in Florida, and have never been issued Florida identification.

Mail-in ballot requests that arrive via mail should use envelopes which clearly state “Do Not Forward,” the report said.

The report also said the Legislature should determine the circumstances under which a vote-by-mail ballot that is returned with two ballots will not be counted; the circumstances under which mail-in ballots may be counted even if the voter changes his or her legal residency between counties; and the time frame during which a voter or their designee may pick up a vote-by-mail ballot within early voting when an emergency precludes voting at the polls, with exceptions permitted under some circumstances.

Undeliverable Addresses for Mail-In Ballots

When the provisions of SB 524 were proposed, opponents argued that the push to have voters include some kind of personal identification in their mail-in ballot requests would result in additional costs, logistical challenges, delays, more voting errors, vote certification issues, and so on.

But concerns about mail-in ballots compromising the integrity of elections have been strong in Florida.

In September, Florida First Freedom Alliance, a grassroots organization, presented evidence to Florida election officials and law enforcement showing that roughly 1,100 mail-in ballots in the state’s Aug. 23 primary elections were cast from undeliverable addresses.

“The resulting problem is that there are thousands of completely undeliverable vote-by-mail ballots that were later turned in to election officials as legitimately cast vote-by-mail ballots,” Christopher Gleason, the group’s spokesman, told The Epoch Times.

“This is what happens when dirty voter registration rolls result in massive numbers of undeliverable ballots,“ Gleason said. ”The question is, who is voting them?”

Steven Kovac contributed to the report.