Trust & Verify: Florida Department of State report on potential election changes

More changes could be in the works regarding your vote, and there is a chance it could happen before the next election. The changes won’t happen overnight, though.

A 60-page report prepared by the Florida Department of State gives us a glimpse into discussions we may likely hear next month during the legislative session.

Its title alone speaks volumes; “Vote-by-mail voting – security, privacy and election transparency.”

The state of Florida has made a lot of changes to election law over the last few years, particularly to voting by mail.

The Department of State report looks at everything from how to verify your ballot really belongs to you to requiring first-time voters to vote in person.

A big change would be how you request your ballot by doing away with call-in requests.

WINK News investigative reporter Kellie Miller took the report to Lee County Supervisor of Elections Tommy Doyle and UCF College of Political Sciences political expert Aubrey Jewitt to get to the bottom of what this report really suggests.

“So what this report does is look back over the last few years at the changes that have already been put in place and evaluates those changes briefly. And then it looks forward and says, here are some additional laws that might need to be revised to ensure that vote by mail is secure,” said Jewitt.

We asked Doyle if he thinks the changes are necessary.

“No. I don’t think they are necessary because I think we, and the supervisors, are involved in it every election. We see the process, we know the process, and we conduct our elections according to Florida election code. And we see that it’s secure and our staff has high integrity. So we don’t think it’s necessary, but whatever they decide, we will do.”

There is a chance lawmakers could vote for changes during the legislative session. However, the report recommends holding off implementing those changes until after the 2024 presidential election.