As you read this article, please keep in mind that, as of today, we estimate there are about 32,000 Democratic Florida voters abroad, and fewer than 16,000 Republicans, a 2:1 Democratic advantage. In 2018, the race for US Senate was decided by 10,033 votes. The state-wide Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services election was decided by 6,753 votes!

Democratic Floridians abroad can shape the future of Florida!

If you have ties to Florida, but have been told that you can’t register to vote or that you can’t receive an absentee ballot, please email [email protected].

For years, the Republican-dominated Florida government has been eroding the rights of voters, favoring the preferences of their supporters, passing statute after statute that limits voters’ ability to vote. Courts have said many of these thinly veiled measures were, “aimed squarely at Black voters” (Black voters are overwhelmingly Democratic voters). These changes were passed under the guise of “election integrity”, despite Republican Governor Ron DeSantis calling the 2020 Florida elections, “the smoothest and most secure in any state."

In 2022 Republicans dramatically “gerrymandered” the maps used to define voting districts; in other words, they drew the district lines to give themselves disproportionate advantages where ever possible. While that wouldn’t seem to have a large impact, consider this example from the University of Chicago Law School, as published in The Lantern:

This gerrymandering of Florida districts is widely acknowledged as changing the balance of power in the US House of Representatives. Republicans increased their majority in the Florida Congressional delegation from 16-11 in 2020 to 20-8 in 2022 (Florida was assigned one additional House seat in 2022 due to reapportionment after the 2020 Census). Those four extra seats gave the Republicans a majority in the US House of Representatives after the 2022 General Election, and they still control the US House today.

HOW DO THESE CHANGES AFFECT YOU? 

The Republicans were only getting started with gerrymandering. What follows is a list of the “lowlights” of the Republicans’ recent changes to Florida election law. (Please read at least the first three, then skip to the end if you can’t stomach the details.)

• Florida law now requires voters requesting to vote by mail (also known as an absentee ballot) to provide a Florida state-issued ID or a US Social Security number.

  • If you’re an overseas voter without either of these documents and have been denied an absentee ballot, please email [email protected].

• Knowing that more Democrats than Republicans vote by mail/absentee, the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature cancelled all outstanding vote by mail and absentee ballot requests after the 2022 General Election, and after each subsequent general election. THIS AFFECTS ALL THOSE VOTING FROM ABROAD (unless you plan to return to Florida to vote in person).
  
  
• 65% of Florida voters passed a Florida Constitutional Amendment granting returning citizens, that is, people convicted of a felony who had completed their sentence, the right to vote. In the following legislative session, Republicans added requirements for documentation that almost no returning citizen would have, or would ever be able to produce, disenfranchising almost all returning citizens.
  
  
• The Republican Florida Legislature passed a vague law that prohibits, “engaging in any activity with the intent to influence or effect of influencing a voter.” There are serious concerns that this law will be used to target groups that hand out bottled water and food to any/all voters standing in long lines in the hot (yes, even in November) Florida sun waiting to vote, without mentioning any party or issue.
  
  
• Florida law now requires that ballot drop boxes only be located at in-person voting sites, only be open during voting hours, and be continuously staffed and monitored by personnel from the elections office. For many people, this means dropping off their ballot is now much more difficult.  Previously, drop boxes could be monitored by security cameras, and some were accessible 24 hours per day.  They were often placed at public libraries, on college campuses, at Post Offices, and in other secure, high-traffic areas.
  
  
• There are now limits on how many ballots a person may return to the elections office. An individual may now only return their own ballot, the sealed ballots of immediate family members, and the sealed ballots of at most two other people, making it a crime to help friends and neighbors who may not be physically able to take their ballot to a drop-off location.  In the past, many churches would collect ballots from parishioners to deliver to the elections office.  This was a common practice among churches with large minority (and heavily Democratic) congregations (these events were sometimes operated as part of events dubbed, “Souls to the Polls”)
  
  
• Republicans dramatically increased requirements for groups soliciting voter registrations, and dramatically increased fines for failing to meet those requirements. The result is that many groups, who often served poor and non-English speaking communities (that mostly lean Democratic), no longer conduct voter registration drives.
  
  
• Third parties are now prohibited from making voluntary, non-partisan donations to elections offices to help with the costs of running an election, even during an emergency (for example Hurricane Ian and Hurricane Michael)
  
  
• And finally, at the request of Ron DeSantis the Republican Legislature created a special “Elections Police Force” to enforce these laws, which of course passed easily over Democratic objections.

This sad tale is the result of over 20 years of the Republican “quad-fecta” in Florida Government.  That’s how long they have held majorities in (1) the Florida House, (2) the Florida Senate, have held (3) the Florida Governor’s office, and because of those positions of superiority, have stacked (4) the Florida court system with conservative cronies. 

If you find this as appalling as I do, then consider applying the Rule of 3’s.  Talk with three friends who are eligible to vote in Florida.  Convince them to register to vote, and to vote the Democratic ticket.  Then tell them to talk to three friends … . 

In solidarity,

Scott Hoffman
DA Florida State Team Co-Chair