Like Voting by Mail? You Probably Have Some Work to Do

By Mike Lednovich

Nassau County Supervisor of Elections Janet Adkins has been notified that 12,225 vote-by-mail applications had been voided by the State Bureau of Elections under a new law signed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, which went into effect earlier this year.

Democratic State Committee Woman Carla Voisard said Adkins' office was informed of the action at last week's Nassau County Supervisor of Elections Citizens Advisory Committee meeting, on which she is a member.

The committee attorney notified Adkins and the committee that the state voided the registrations under specific language of the new bill.

"Essentially the state said any vote-by-mail registrations received on or before Nov. 8, 2022 were part of that election cycle and were not valid going forward," Voisard said.

"Registrations received Nov. 9, 2022 and thereafter are valid. But that wipes out 12,225 applications and leaves Nassau County with only 1,008 vote-by-mail requests on the books."

Previous to the new law, vote-by-mail registrations were good for two election cycles.

"This is totally unacceptable! The state seems bent on disenfranchising voters and in this case elderly voters," Voisard said.

Voisard said Adkins was alarmed by the state's actions and was planning on taking proactive steps to enroll those voters impacted by the state's actions.

Voisard said Adkins told the committee that she plans to send anyone affected a letter on Friday.

She will also try to text and email voters where information is available. She also plans to take out banner ads in the newspaper.

With the Labor Day holiday weekend, Adkins' office was closed, and she was unavailable for immediate comment.