Scrutiny is coming for Florida’s problematic elections — which sometimes make people wait for hours to vote, don’t get resolved for weeks after Election Day, and make the state a national laughing stock.
The Elections Subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee on Administration is holding a field hearing on voting rights and election administration on Monday in Fort Lauderdale.
“Florida’s elections have been criticized in light of poor election administration and voter suppression efforts, which have disproportionately disenfranchised low-income and minority communities,” the committee said in its hearing announcement.
“This hearing will explore attempts to undermine restoration of voting rights, examine evidence of voter purging, as well as voter suppression efforts which have made it increasingly difficult for voters to exercise their right to vote,” the committee statement said.
Among the concerns outlined by the committee are the 2018 election, which resulted in recounts in three statewide races, for U.S. Senate, governor and agriculture commissioner, which “exposed a number of Florida’s election administration issues.”
It also raised the confusing ballot design in Broward, which may have led to many voters inadvertently skipping the U.S. Senate race, the county missing the deadline to submit results from the first recount to the state, and the mixing of rejected ballots with valid ones.
The county supervisor of elections at the time, Brenda Snipes, resigned. Then-Gov. Rick Scott appointed Peter Antonacci to run the office through the 2020 election.