Millions of ballots started hitting the mail today for the November 3rd general election in Florida.
Overall, more than 4.9 million vote-by-mail ballots have already been requested by Florida’s 13.9 million voters. As a comparison, that is 1.5 million more absentee ballots than were requested during the 2016 presidential election. Florida elections officials have been working to counter President Donald Trump’s attacks this year on voting by mail in other parts of the country. With some states sending absentee-ballot applications to all registered voters and expanding election laws to allow voters to cast ballots from home amid the coronavirus pandemic, Trump has decried the possibility of election fraud. Leon County Supervisor of Elections Mark Early says that is simply not true in Florida. “There is a lot of uncertainty in the election. So, vote-by-mail is a very secure way to vote, regardless of the massive disinformation you are hearing. It’s very frustrating, as an election official.” Election supervisors are pushing absentee ballots to prevent large crowds on Election Day as well as to prepare for the possibility that some precincts may not be able to open on November 3rd.
