Florida is well known for finding creative methods of suppressing the vote. The latest ploy is a new rule issued by Governor Rick Scott’s chief election official Secretary of State Ken Detzner, directing that absentee ballots be returned by mail or directly to the offices of election supervisors. It has been a common practice in the state to allow ballots to be dropped off at locations such as tax collectors offices, libraries and other sites designated by the local election supervisors. This was to accommodate those who wished to save the postage or found it more convenient to drop them at a nearby location.......more>
The directive appeared to take dead aim at one supervisor, Deborah Clark in Pinellas County, who aggressively promotes voting absentee and has a small network of remote drop-off locations to make it easier for people to turn in their absentee ballots. The state’s order comes as Clark prepares to send thousands of absentee ballots to voters in the upcoming special election in the 13th Congressional District, vacated when longtime Republican U.S. Rep. Bill Young died last month......more>
