SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. — The Seminole County Supervisor of Elections has started a campaign to make sure voters who usually register to vote-by-mail know they have to re-register every election cycle, due to a change in state law.
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One of their methods for alerting voters will be by way of mailers explaining how they can re-register to vote by mail.
According to the data, about a third of Seminole County’s 342,000 registered voters could have voted by mail in the last general election.
“So effectively, we had about 100,000 vote-by-mail requests on file,” Seminole County Supervisor of Elections Christopher Anderson explained. “They all expired…so our list after that going into 2023 went to zero.”
Anderson says they’re now tasked with making sure voters know that they must re-register to be able to vote by mail in the 2024 election. This week, they’re sending out emails, as well as the mailers, to voters who cast their ballots through the mail in the past.
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“If you’d like to continue to vote by mail, from this point on to the general election of 2024, you’re going to need this sign-up,” Anderson said. “So we want to make sure that they’re aware of that, because we certainly don’t want them to wait to the last minute and miss out on having a ballot mailed to them if they can’t get out to the polls.”
Due to a change in Florida law, all vote-by-mail requests expired on 12/31/2022. All registered voters who wish to vote by mail must submit a new request that for all elections through the 2024 General Election. Request your vote-by-mail ballot here: https://t.co/nIOIgKy6Mb pic.twitter.com/pAmsbPl8q8
— VoteSeminole (@VoteSeminole) May 9, 2023
Anderson says the change was made because some voters didn’t want to vote by mail, so it was a way to clear the list and start over fresh. He says it’s up to his office to make sure voters are not disenfranchised.
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“So we’re going to do everything we can to make sure that voters don’t feel that way, and that they realize that yes, there are many easy methods,” Anderson said.
Anderson will be out at all county libraries between July 17 and July 21 to sign people up, as well as other community events.
However, for those who already know they want to vote by mail, Anderson says it’s best to sign up as soon as possible.
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