MANATEE COUNTY – Elections officials in Sarasota and Manatee counties are concerned about two bills in the Florida Legislature that would put new restrictions on mail-in voting.
One of the proposed legislative bills would ban the drop boxes used for mail-in ballots.
The other would force all voters to resubmit vote-by-mail requests for the 2024 elections. While at the same time limiting the duration of future requests.
Manatee County Supervisor of Elections Mike Bennett says more Supervisors of Elections across the state have been advocating for voters to use the vote-by-mail option because of its convenience allowing more people the chance to vote.
“When something is not broke, why are you trying to fix it?” said Bennett. “It really bothers me, we had as close to as a perfect election you could ever have last year. It’s been working, it’s been working well.
Bennett says the proposed bills could also delay when Florida would report its official election results. Nearly 44% of all Florida voters cast ballots by mail during the 2020 elections.