Warning: SB 7050 Creates Many Problems for Florida’s Current Election System

Public confidence in our election process is critical for our Constitutional Republic to remain functioning as it was intended to by our Founding Fathers. The latest proposed Senate Bill 7050 fails to deliver that confidence to Florida’s citizens. Outlined below is a list of major concerns in this bill along with recommendations for amending the bill language to reflect the will of “We the People”. As a State Representative of the People, I hope you will take these points into consideration before casting your vote.

Major areas of concern for Floridians:

• Public sentiment calls for a return to hand counting as citizens have learned about the vulnerabilities of tabulators.
• Florida Statute 101.5604 is currently worded in such a way that prohibits hand counting:
• “A county must use an electronic or electromechanical precinct-count tabulation voting system.”
• The economic situation of each county is not considered in this statute. County commissioners should be allowed to hand count ballots if they determine this to be the most fiscally responsible course of action for their county. To remedy this, I propose adding an amendment in SB 7050 to strike the prior language and insert the following sentence:
• “A county may use an electronic or electromechanical precinct-count tabulation voting system or may count ballots by hand at the precinct level.”
• Lines 2128-2129 are not congruent with Florida statute as the line reads “in any county in which an electronic or electromechanical voting system is used,”. This implies counties are not mandated to use electromechanical voting systems and is inconsistent with the current statute. Further reason to amend the statute as recommended above.
• The requirements for citizen identification are insufficient.

Lines 436, 437, 2219, & 2220 in SB 7050 allow for retirement center and neighborhood identification, which are not valid, government-issued forms of identification. A bank account could not be opened with these forms of ID, yet they are currently authorized as valid forms of ID to participate in what should be the most secure process in our nation. I propose striking these forms of acceptable ID from the entirety of SB 7050.

Lines 457, 458, 2233-2245 allow for non-parity in voter ID requirements. ID exceptions should be minimal. Not requiring ID for people 65 years and older enables nursing home voter fraud. Lines 2235-2245 include citizens that should be able to produce valid identification.

Vague language in Section 36 facilitates third-degree felony charges to poll watchers.

Proposed statute 104.47 states “It is unlawful for any person to intimidate, threaten, coerce, harass, or attempt to intimidate, threaten, coerce, or harass an election worker with the intent to impede or interfere with the performance of an election worker’s official duties, or with the intent to retaliate against such election worker for the performance of official duties. A person who violates this section commits a felony of the third degree…”

An election worker is defined in lines 2625-2629 as a “member of a county canvassing board or an individual who is an election official, poll worker, or election volunteer in connection with an election conducted in this state.”

The entire section 104.47 should be removed from the bill.

“Election volunteer” is not defined. It may be interpreted to mean any person who is volunteering their time in connection with an election. Does this include poll watchers, political party canvassers, or 3rd party voter registration organization volunteers? It must be defined to include poll watchers and designees authorized by FS101.572(2).

This could be used by an employee of the SOE office against another employee of the SOE office with whom they have a disagreement.

This section equates language with violence and thereby criminalizes speech. Threats are already addressed in FS 836.05, so this section is unnecessary.

Please take action on the above items to restore public confidence in the Florida elections.

©2023 Royal A. Brown. All rights reserved.

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