The Florida House member, Republican Rep. Kathleen Passidomo of Fort Myers, has sponsored an online voter registration bill (HB 1161), but it is stalled in a House subcommittee chaired by Rep. Michael Bileca, a Miami Republican.
Florida would become the 25th state with an online voter registration program under a bill (SB 228) sponsored by Sen. Jeff Clemens, D-Lake Worth. The idea has broad bipartisan support as well as the backing of AARP, League of Women Voters and Disability Rights of Florida, and it unanimously passed a Senate committee Thursday.
Gov. Rick Scott's administration is quietly trying to scuttle the legislation.
No one from Scott's administration has publicly opposed the idea. The administration's behind-the-scenes opposition has opened a new rift between Scott's office and county supervisors and stirred new speculation that the Republican governor may not want to expand the pool of voters as he explores a possible U.S. Senate bid in 2018.
A staff report of the bill by Scott's Division of Elections refers to the bill as a "mandate (that) presents potential risks and challenges" at a time when the state's voter registration and driver license databases are both undergoing extensive changes. Florida relies on driver license information to verify voters' identities.
The report says: "Malicious cyber-attacks and non-malicious malfunctions could potentially wreak havoc on an online voter registration system" and online registrations "could potentially increase the chances of votes being cast by someone other than the people actually registered to vote."
That's bunk, two Republican election supervisors said Thursday. Escambia County's David Stafford and Pasco's Brian Corley said the risk of voter fraud would be reduced with online voter registration. "Their analysis is inaccurate at best," Corley said. "I'm a little perplexed at their erroneous facts."
Corley said Secretary of State Ken Detzner, the state's top elections official, has repeatedly endorsed the concept, but has asked for more time to implement it. Clemens' original bill called for online voter registration to be in place by next year, but senators have agreed to delay implementation until Oct. 1, 2017.
"This sets out a pretty logical timetable, getting us past a presidential election," Stafford said. "It gives ample opportunity to address any concerns that the division has. We have the benefit that 20 other states have done it."
Supervisors of election, who must stand for office every four years, say they would never embrace an idea that has the potential to increase the possibility of voter fraud. They note that one of the states to allow online registration is Louisiana, where Scott's chief of staff, Melissa Sellers, worked before coming to Florida.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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