Palm Beach County voters may have longer wait times for early voting in the August primary and November general election because of an obscure legislative provision that could sideline a voting system used by virtually all the county’s early voters in 2024.
ExpressVote, a ballot marking system that reduces waiting time and increases accuracy, was overwhelmingly popular in the presidential election: 336,192 of the county’s early voters had it to record their choices on paper cards they used to cast their ballots. Just 8,460 people opted to fill in ovals themselves on paper ballots.
Weeks earlier, President Donald Trump used the system to cast his early vote in the 2024 Florida primary. The Palm Beach resident — and most prominent national critic of the way voting is run in the U.S. — didn’t raise any objections. As he left the early voting center, Trump praised poll workers for doing a “fantastic job.”
Now, in an era of Trump-fueled distrust in the way elections are run, especially on the political right, what state Sen. Tina Polsky termed conspiracy theories have developed around the ExpressVote system. Republicans who control the Florida Legislature are advancing bills that would scale back its use in three Florida counties: Palm Beach, Duval and Lee.
If the provision becomes law, Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Wendy Sartory Link warned it will result in longer wait times at early voting centers.
Another potential impact of the move from Tallahassee: Palm Beach County would end up with 400 to 500 mothballed ExpressVote devices. County taxpayers spent $3,910 each the last time it bought them, Link said. Some of the county’s inventory of about 1,000 would still be used for early and Election Day voting by people with disabilities.
“It doesn’t make any sense,” said Polsky, a Broward-Palm Beach county Democrat. She argued against the provision in a Senate committee, and voted against the legislation.
The provision impacting the three counties has gotten almost no attention. It’s one element in a major election bill, which has passed one Senate and one House committee.
Almost all discussion about House Bill 991/Senate Bill 1334 is the highly controversial element that would require Floridians registering to vote or changing their address or party affiliation to show proof of citizenship.
The legislation would also change the kinds of identification Florida voters could use at polling places. It would, for example, eliminate student identification as an acceptable ID, which could make it more difficult for college students without driver license’s to vote.
What is it — and why?
ExpressVote features, such as the adjustable type size and different backgrounds, make it helpful for some people with disabilities. Link and previous supervisors of elections in Duval and Lee counties deployed it to make early voting smoother for everyone.
Florida law allows in-person early voting at any of the regional early voting centers in the county in which people live.
Every voter has to get a ballot that corresponds to all the districts in which they live, and there are myriad combinations — U.S. House, Florida Senate, Florida House, County Commission, School Board, city government, plus agencies such as the Port of Palm Beach commission.
Because people can go to any early voting site, it’s impossible to stock all the potential permutations of ballots at every location. That’s not an issue on the final day of voting, Election Day, because people have to vote at neighborhood polling stations, each of which are stocked with pre-printed ballots for that location.
For early voting, many counties — including Broward — deploy high-speed, on-demand ballot printers to all their early voting sites. After a voter checks in, the printer produces a ballot tailored to where that person lives even if it’s at the other end of the county. A voter fills in the ovals to make their choices.
Starting with a 2021 special election, Palm Beach County began using ExpressVote.
Check-in is the same. But the ExpressVote user gets a smaller ballot with a barcode.
When a person inserts it into the device, Link said the screen allows a person to select the size of the type and the background they’d like to see and the language they prefer (English, Spanish or Creole).
After the voter makes all of their choices, the screen shows a summary, and a person can make changes. When the voter finishes, the selections are printed on the ballot. The voter can review all the choices again before actually depositing it in the ballot box.
With either the traditional fill-in-the-oval ballot or an ExpressVote ballot that’s been printed, a voter can make a change by having a poll worker “spoil” the ballot, and getting a new one to start over again.
“It’s just a ballot marking device that allows them to use the touch screen to choose their races. It does not record anything. It does not tabulate anything,” Link said.
Link said voters can choose to use ExpressVote or to have a traditional ballot printed.
ExpressVote is much faster, she said: 3 seconds to produce an ExpressVote ballot; 45 seconds for an on-demand printer to produce a full ballot. Though it sounds small, “Just that printing difference when you get a two-hour line, that adds up,” Link said.
The difference adds up to an extra 17 hours of time for 1,500 early voters.
Link said the system has been met with enthusiasm by Palm Beach County voters. “Most of our voters like it. It’s easier for them. It’s faster.” In 2024, records show, 97.5% of Palm Beach County voters used ExpressVote.
Duval County Supervisor of Elections Jerry Holland said Jacksonville voters like using ExpressVote for early voting for the reasons Link identified: speed and accuracy.
“They like it,” Holland said.
Duval County has two lines at early voting sites, one for ExpressVote and the other for a traditional fill-in-the-blanks ballot. “We absolutely do not push them to either one,” he said; many people pick the line that is shortest or seems to be moving the most quickly.
Broward Supervisor of Elections Joe Scott has said in the past that he was exploring the possibility of using ExpressVote or something similar for early voting. But Broward has not taken that step, spokeswoman Lisa Lee Arneaud said via email.
Legislation
The legislation wouldn’t explicitly ban ExpressVote. “Persons with disabilities may vote using a voter interface device” such as ExpressVote or a similar system, the measure states.
A bill analysis from the national organization Voting Rights Lab said the language in the bill would, “Require all voters, other than those with a disability, to mark all selections on an official ballot using a pen or marker recommended by the voting system vendor.”
At a Senate committee hearing, Polsky pressed the sponsor, state Sen. Erin Grall, an Indian River County Republican, about the legislation.
“That section makes it sound as if you have to affirmatively request to use the express ballot, and otherwise if you don’t say anything, you’re going to be handed a paper ballot. Is that your intention with this section?” Polsky asked.
Grall: “Yes. That is correct.” Under further questioning from Polsky, Grall said the effort was “to clarify that the paper ballot is the preferred method.”
Link said implementation of that provision would mean that, “The lines will be longer, voters will be less satisfied with their experience, and it’s just a step backwards instead of a step forward.”
Holland said he doesn’t believe the legislation would require an overhaul of Duval County early voting, as long as voters are offered a choice. Link, who sees it differently, said Palm Beach County voters have been able to opt for a paper ballot if they wanted one.
Why change
Sponsors of the legislation haven’t clearly explained why they don’t want ExpressVote used the way the three counties have done for early voting. “It just doesn’t make sense to me,” Polsky said in an interview.
She tried to elicit a rationale at the Senate Ethics and Election Committee hearing on the measure. But she got little clarity from Grall, the sponsor, who explained “the intention is to clarify that voting is to be conducted by paper ballot unless a voter requests the voter interface device, so that the voter interface devices are not the default for the administration of elections and that it is the paper ballot.”
Backers of the change seem to “think something was corrupt” about ExpressVote, Polsky said. “For unknown reasons they don’t think it’s safe.”
Voting systems used in Florida, including ExpressVote, are tested by the Florida Department of State, an agency run by Secretary of State Cord Byrd, who was appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, and certified by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.
Link said there’s something illogical about ending widespread use of ExpressVote for early voting. If there’s something that makes ExpressVote unsuitable for widespread use, how can it be safe and accurate enough to remain in use by people with disabilities?
At the House Government Operations Subcommittee, sponsoring state Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka, a Lee County Republican, explained the change this way. “It provides for greater ballot integrity by requiring all voting to be by paper ballot unless a person with a disability requests to use a voter interface device.”
Almost all the testimony and committee discussion focused on the citizenship section. Neither Grall nor Persons-Mulicka responded to emailed questions.
Persons-Mulicka’s home county is one of the three that uses ExpressVote for early voting.
“The ExpressVote devices have worked well for our elections. Our office tests all devices before each election to ensure proper functionality,” Gaby Aguirre, communications director for the Lee County Elections Office, said via email. “The majority of our voters are satisfied with their voting experience using the ExpressVote marking devices.”
Aguirre said the county elections office is “monitoring legislation and (is) aware that the bill could also be amended before the session ends.”
Lee County’s supervisor of elections retired last month; DeSantis has not yet appointed a replacement.
Last fall, Byrd said he was working on citizenship verification legislation, and Byrd has shown keen interest in the bill. As Persons-Mulicka presented the bill at the House committee, Byrd watched from the audience.
Byrd’s spokesperson also didn’t respond to questions.
Republican doubts
Though election officials in Palm Beach, Duval and Lee counties said voters like the system, the view isn’t universal.
In Palm Beach County, Republicans sought to mobilize opposition to the devices in 2024, and citing unverified claims of potential election shenanigans, sought to convince people not to use them.
The Palm Beach County Republican Party warned in a 2024 email message to members that “most voters are not aware that the default, within the early voting locations, is to encourage the use of the electronic voting machine, ExpressVote.”
It urged people to refuse ExpressVote ballots. “The MORE SECURE option is to request a printed paper ballot.”
The 2024 Republican nominee for supervisor of elections, who ultimately lost to Link, also raised concerns about ExpressVote.
Despite their concerns, top Republican candidates — Trump in 2024 and DeSantis in 2022 — actually did much better during early voting — with its near universal use of ExpressVote — than their overall performance in Palm Beach County.
Still, the ExpressVote skeptics are having an impact. The 2026 legislation is moving forward in Tallahassee, though it could be amended at subsequent committee hearings.
And when voters were exposed to their concerns, some responded.
During 2024 early voting at the Palm Beach County Main Library, across the street from the Trump International Golf Club near West Palm Beach, critics used a mannequin depicting Trump to spread their message.
Placed just outside the 150-foot mark where politicking is prohibited outside polling places, the mannequin was outfitted with a rubber Donald Trump mask. Its fist is raised in defiance, the way the real Trump raised his fist after an assassination attempt against his life in July, 2024, in Butler, Pa.
The Trump mannequin held a sign urging voters to “Demand a paper ballot!” and telling people “Do not use the ‘express’ machine!!”
Just 71.1% of the early voters at that location used ExpressVote, compared to the countywide 97.5%, records show. More than half the paper ballots cast countywide in early voting were cast at that one location.
Political writer Anthony Man can be reached at aman@sunsentinel.com and can be found @browardpolitics on Bluesky, Threads, Facebook and Mastodon.