Florida elections supervisors want to make it easier to vote by mail
Among the voting restrictions the GOP-controlled Florida Legislature has enacted since the 2020 presidential election is a law requiring voters to renew their vote-by-mail (VBM) ballot requests every two years instead of every four years.
That 2021 law saw requests for VBM ballots plummet in the 2024 election, and it’s depressed the number of requests for VBM ballots in two congressional special elections taking place right now.
That situation prompted a group of supervisors of elections on Tuesday to recommend to state lawmakers allow voters to check a box on the return envelopes of their mail ballots requesting that their vote-by-mail ballots request remain active for the next election.
Speaking before the Senate Committee on Ethics and Elections in Tallahassee on Tuesday, Lake County Republican Supervisor of Elections Alan Hays argued change is needed by referencing what is happening right now in his county — close to 14,000 voters requested a mail ballot in the Congressional District 6 race last November, but so far in early 2025, the beginning of a new election cycle, only around 3,300 renewed their request to vote by mail for the congressional special election primary there last week, a difference of 11,000 people.
https://floridaphoenix.com/2025/02/04/florida-elections-supervisors-want-to-make-it-easier-to-vote-by-mail/