SB1752: Is this Secretariat or a Trojan Horse?

Either way, suggestions to make this bill a champion Man o'War

The race for legislation that truly secures Florida's electoral process and could serve as a role model for the rest of the nation is fraught with peaks and valleys, twists and turns. Unexpectedly, on January 5th at 7:59 PM, Senator Blaise Ingoglia filed a 24-page bill which, at first glance, reads like a win for election security. Here are some of its highlights and a preliminary analysis:

SB1752 on Hand counting

This is an improvement on the current situation because the hand counting will occur BEFORE certification, which is very appropriate in terms of timing. Currently, statutes allow hand counting AFTER certification, which is too late. 

Upon further review of SB1752's language, there are several concerns:

1. The precincts are chosen randomly by the SoS 15 days prior to Election Day. If a problem in a particular precinct presented itself on Election Day and that location was not one selected by the SoS, what is the remedy? Shouldn’t the selection of the county be done by the county commission, canvassing board, or other local entity? For sure, the location of the random hand count must not be known in advance by the SoE’s or their staff.

2. The actual counting of the ballot is "all election day marksense ballots (paper) or of digital images of those ballots." The focus needs to be on the PAPER ballots, not the digital images that have already been counted by the computers. Moreover, all types of ballots should be counted, including the blank ones.

3. The language specifies manual counting of election day ballots. In doing so, it fails to address Vote by Mail, blank ballots, and other categories. As seen in "2000 Mules" and validated by countless other studies, absentee ballots represent one of the riskiest categories for electoral integrity.

In contrast, this straightforward language put forth by House Representative Berny Jacques is refreshing. HB359 easily reads:

"A county may must use an electronic or electromechanical precinct-count tabulation voting system or may count ballots by hand at the precinct level."

This seemingly simple but transcendental proposal enables counties to autonomously determine vote processing methods. In some cases, the cost of the tabulation machines, accompanying hardware, system updates and certifications, and other expenses tally up to significant investments of tax dollars that might be better allocated to other value-added projects. In addition, this language provides a wider berth to accommodate different situations and scenarios.

SB1752 on Hardware

The above language is on point; having open source software is imperative. Notably, this language is also contained in the Jacques bill. Reality check: Implementation of provisions (a) and (b) may not be possible in the near future. Imagine getting rid of all of your domestic appliances because they have a foreign chip, screen, or motor that was from or assembled in a foreign country? Unless Tallahassee is ready to eliminate the use of all voting computers and equipment, this provision will have popular appeal but is likely not practical or feasible in the short term.

SB1752 on Vote by Mail

Voting in Florida is way too easy and open to malfeasance and maladministration. Ingoglia’s language covers a lot of bases and notably defines qualifications to request an absentee ballot while limiting each request to one election. Setting boundaries and meaningful standards to restrict absentee ballots is imperative and this language takes some large steps towards returning the situation to what it ought to be. A key improvement to the bill’s language is requiring PROOF of the absent voter’s basis for the request instead of relying on the honor system. At least the misrepresentation of the voter’s basis for soliciting an absentee ballot will be treated as a third-degree felony, fined up to $5,000 and/or imprisonment for up to 5 years.

Language from HB1669, Rep. Rick Roth’s bill, provides excellent detail of how the voter must offer proof to request a vote by mail ballot such as medical affidavits, proof of travel, or proof of enrollment in an educational institute that is outside of the county for college-bound students.

SB1752 on Early Voting

Currently, early voting is 10 days with SOE’s able to extend it to 15 days early. The bill automatically extends early voting to 15 days. Early voting should be restricted, so we do not support adding an extra 5 days.

SB1752 on other issues

This bill does an excellent job of instructing the SoE’s to clean up all prior VBM requests before the August 2024 primaries. This is likely to be a massive undertaking, particularly if the SoE’s are mandated to contact via mail, phone, and email. Perhaps the language should require notification via postcard and other methods according to time and resources.

Sen. Ingoglia’s bill eliminates the proliferation of dropbox locations by requiring absentee ballots to be placed at the main office of the Supervisor of Elections or branch offices that are monitored in person. In other words, SB1752 addresses the root cause of the problem.

Unfortunately, the bill does not clean or address Voter Rolls. However, as it stands, with a few critical tweaks, SB1752 has the potential to become a real Man o'War. As the legislation season kicks off, the participation of all eyes on the language becomes critical so that we don’t get a repeat of last season’s SB7050 debacle.

The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.

Thomas Jefferson

Father in Heaven,

We ask for favor during this legislative session. Bless the team of researchers, writers, planners and every person involved in crafting, presenting, and advocating for laws to secure our voting process. Provide us all with a hedge of protection, a surge of encouragement, and the stamina to remain steadfast with purpose.

Lord, open doors and shut nay-sayers. Pave our path and erect barriers to obfuscate those with ill-intentions. Lift true leaders who have the courage to stand by their convictions and not be swayed by the mood of the herd or the winds of political favor.

We ask this in Jesus’ name.

Amen

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