Escambia’s Stafford, Other Election Bosses To Ask For More Early Voting

January 13, 2013

Escambia County Supervisor of Elections David Stafford and state’s local elections supervisors set to testify Monday before a Senate committee about what went wrong with Florida’s 2012 elections. They are set to ask lawmakers to allow them to increase early voting after the snafus that produced long lines at polling places in November, according to a summary of their legislative package.

Stafford is past president of the Florida State Association of Supervisors of Elections, which said it would request that the Legislature give county supervisors the option to allow up to 14 days of early voting.

Lawmakers reduced the number of early voting days to eight as part of a controversial elections bill approved in 2011; under the supervisors’ proposal, counties would still have to offer at least eight days of early voting.

The legislative package, released Thursday, also includes a proposal that would require lawmakers to limit the summaries of all potential constitutional amendments to 75 words. Currently, amendments sent to the ballot by the Legislature don’t have to follow that limit, which applies to citizen initiatives. Supporters of the limit say reading lengthy ballot summaries can slow down voters.

The News Service of Florida contributed to this report.

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Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News