On April 26, in a vote of 23-17, the Republican-controlled State Senate approved SB 90 (pdf), which overhauls Florida election law ahead of the 2022 primary and 2024 presidential election cycles. State Sen. Jeff Brandes was the only Republican to vote against the measure.
On April 19, a Florida House panel approved changes to an elections package sponsored by Republican state Rep. Blaise Ingoglia. Both chambers must agree on the language of the legislation in order for the bill to advance to the desk of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“As Supervisors of Elections,” Craig Latimer, Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections and President of the Florida Supervisors of Elections, said “we are unwavering in our commitment to keeping our elections both secure and accessible. We did that in 2020, to universal acclaim. Elections ran smoothly, voters participated in record numbers, and election results were verified with audits in every county in Florida, as provided for in our current election law,” in an April 30 statement obtained by The Epoch Times.
The new legislation seeks to mandate that vote-by-mail ballot signatures match the most recent signature on file to be counted. The measure also dictates that political parties and candidates cannot be shut out from observing the signature matching process.
