Florida supervisors press Legislature for more early-voting flexibility, clearer roll maintenance and poll-worker protections

Leah Valente, Charlotte County Supervisor of Elections, David Rambaugh, executive director of the Florida Supervisors of Elections association, Travis Hart, Lafayette County Supervisor of Elections, and Senator/now‑Supervisor Hayes of Lake County told the Senate Ethics and Elections Committee about operational pressures from the 2024 election and requested several statutory fixes ahead of the 2025 legislative session.

The supervisors said Florida’s rapid population growth and “landmark” turnout in 2024 forced election offices to plan farther ahead and build redundancies, and urged lawmakers to give local election officials more flexibility to maintain access and security. “The flexibility to have, more than 1 wild card option, is is invaluable for us,” Valente told the committee, describing the current limit of a single nongovernmental “wild card” early‑voting site under Florida law (current citation discussed as Florida Statute 101.657 in the presentation packet).

Why it matters: Supervisors said relying mostly on government‑owned buildings for early voting leaves gaps in fast‑growing communities and can remove options during emergencies; they pointed to recent hurricane impacts and to newly developed areas lacking city halls, libraries or civic centers. Lake County reported nearly 90% turnout in the 2024 presidential cycle; Rambaugh and Hayes said that high participation requires more sites and surge staffing to avoid running short on ballots or supplies.

Operational and statutory requests

- Wild‑card early‑voting sites: Valente asked the Legislature to allow supervisors to designate more than one nongovernmental early‑voting location so offices can respond quickly when government facilities are unavailable or cannot be found in new growth areas.

- Naturalization and DMV records: Supervisors requested statutory language or administrative coordination to encourage or require newly naturalized citizens to update their driver’s‑license records so state motor‑vehicle files match voter registration records. Travis Hart and Rambaugh said mismatches between naturalization records and Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles data had generated complaints that noncitizens appeared on voter rolls; the supervisors said the mismatch often happened because naturalized citizens had not yet updated DMV records.

- Poll‑worker privacy and safety: Rambaugh highlighted concerns about public records requests that include home addresses for poll workers and seasonal staff and asked the Legislature to align Florida law with federal designations that treat some election personnel as critical infrastructure. “Federal law does classify these workers as critical infrastructure,” Rambaugh said, adding that supervisors seek clarification so personal contact information is shielded to reduce harassment and protect recruitment and retention.

- Vote‑by‑mail checkbox restoration: Supervisors asked to restore a ballot‑return checkbox that previously allowed voters to remain on vote‑by‑mail lists across election cycles without reapplying, arguing that losing that convenience reduced turnout in some special elections and created heavy administrative work to re‑enroll voters.

- Base pay for constitutional supervisors: Valente asked the committee to consider a base‑pay salary adjustment to align supervisors’ compensation with other constitutional officers (property appraisers, clerks, tax collectors). She said base pay levels for those offices had not been substantially updated since the late 1980s and that workloads have increased in volume and complexity.

Ballot security, transport and list maintenance

Supervisors described detailed, county‑level plans for transporting ballots and maintaining chain‑of‑custody forms, tamper‑evident seals and two‑person transports. “We have strict chain of custodies that we must follow,” Valente said, describing sign‑offs, seal‑number logging and party‑opposed teams that transport materials on election night. Committee members raised an earlier Miami‑Dade incident in which a truck that had been used in ballot logistics was found unlocked; Rambaugh said the material in that case was unvoted stock and was recovered, and he said procedures exist to detect and investigate missing containers.

Supervisors also discussed list‑maintenance tools. Rambaugh explained that Florida jurisdictions had left the ERIC cooperative in recent years and rely on state and federal data exchanges and annual list maintenance to reconcile registrations with DMV and Social Security databases.

Signature verification and cure period

The panel reviewed the state’s signature‑verification training and process. Rambaugh described training requirements and Florida’s “cure” process for ballots with mismatched signatures; voters are notified and have a 72‑hour cure window after Election Day. Supervisors noted that signatures evolve over time, that aging and different writing surfaces affect comparisons, and that training addresses those variations.

Committee reaction and next steps

Committee members asked procedural and policy questions; the chair indicated a committee bill is likely and invited the supervisors to supply written recommendations. Rambaugh said the supervisors will provide suggested language and outreach materials for lawmakers to consider.

Ending: The supervisors emphasized continual improvement and urged lawmakers to avoid changes that would undermine what they described as Florida’s high‑turnout, high‑security election system. “We’re constantly looking to make it better, to make it more secure,” Rambaugh told the committee.