For the past year, people renewing their driver licenses or state ID cards have received a new number. And that could cause problems for voters in next year’s elections.
“When a voter receives a new Florida driver’s license number, it is imperative that our office is made aware of the change,” Broward Supervisor of Elections Joe Scott said via email.
A warning about the implications of the new driver license and ID numbers came Tuesday from All Voting is Local, a voting-rights group that focuses on combatting policies that make it more difficult for people to vote.
On July 31, 2024, according to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, the state began implementing a new law requiring driver license and state ID car numbers to include four randomly generated numbers.
Since then, the driver license agency reports, anyone who has renewed a license or ID has received a new number. Replacement cards also came with new numbers. The objective, the agency said, was to improve security and enhance identity protection.
Why it matters
A driver license number and/or the last four digits of a Social Security number is used to verify a voter’s identity, Scott said.
The problem, according to All Voting is Local, is that “the ID information in the (Florida) elections database doesn’t automatically update when the DHSMV database changes a voter’s license number. This could stifle voters trying to sign up to vote by mail.”
That’s because people who wish to vote by mail need to supply the identification number that elections offices have on file. For most people it’s a driver license number. For others it’s a state ID or the last four digits of a Social Security number.
Without the correct identifying number, an application can’t be processed.
How to fix
Scott said voters have several options:
— Voters can update their license number immediately while at a driver license and motor vehicle office by asking to update their voter registration information.
— Voters may also complete a new voter registration application online through county supervisor of elections office websites or the state online registration system. That can also be done in person at elections offices.
— People can also ask the elections office to mail a voter registration application.
“Over the past few months, we have been successfully helping voters with new driver’s license numbers update their voter information,” Scott said.
All Voting is Local said anyone who has updated their Florida driver’s license or state identification on or after Nov. 1, 2023, should update their information with their county supervisor of elections office.
Mail voting
The change in driver license numbers has come about as the state has implemented changes in the way mail-ballot requests are processed.
People need to ask for a mail-ballot request for each major election cycle. People who requested and received a mail ballot for the 2024 presidential election, for example, won’t automatically receive one for the 2026 election for governor. People need to make a new request.
Requests made now for “all elections” will be valid through the next general election in November 2026. The 2025-26 requests expire after next year’s election.
Popularity
Florida made mail voting much easier in the aftermath of the contentious 2000 George W. Bush-Al Gore presidential election. People no longer need a reason to vote by mail, a change from the old absentee ballot system that required voters to provide a reason such as being out of town on Election Day.
Starting with the 2004 election, mail voting steadily grew in popularity — then smashed records in 2020, when people turned to mail voting in droves because they wanted to avoid in-person polling places during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since then, usage has declined for several reasons. As COVID has abated, many people have gone back to in-person voting.
President Donald Trump has stoked unfounded allegations that mail voting is rife with fraud. Even though Republican Party organizations have urged the party’s voters to utilize voting by mail, many of its voters have heeded Trump’s concerns and avoided mail ballots.
And Republicans who run Florida government sought to take actions to assuage their supporters who were riled up by Trump’s complaints and have tightened the rules.
In the 2016 presidential election, 2.7 million Floridians voted by mail. That soared to 4.9 million in 2020 and dipped to 3 million in 2024.
Information
People can get information and applications for voter registration and mail ballots at supervisor of elections offices.
Broward County: browardvotes.gov (click on the Register or Update tab or the Vote-By-Mail tab near the top), 954-357-8683.
Palm Beach County: votepalmbeach.gov (click on the Register To Vote or Vote By Mail tabs near the top), 561-656-6200.
Originally Published: