Ryan Ray
As part of an en masse drop of dozens of bills onto Gov. Rick Scott‘s desk courtesy of the Florida Senate, a bill to allow online voting registration awaits his review.
Scott administration Secretary of State Ken Detzner openly opposed Sen. Jeff Clemen‘s measure, SB 228, as it wended its way through committee, saying it would interfere with already-ongoing efforts to revamp the state’s voter rolls and registration system.
Perhaps signaling a change of course, however, Detzner made it clear that he was speaking on his own behalf in that testimony and had not advised the governor on how to handle the proposed law.
On Thursday evening Clemens told Florida Politics his measure is a worthy one and that Scott would be well-advised to grant it final approval.
“The bill accomplishes the same things the governor said he set out to do from day one: make government more efficient, data more secure and save taxpayer dollars,” Clemens said.
The Lake Worth Democrat — whom Marc Caputo recently reported has the 2019-2020 Senate minority leader position “all sewn up” — brushed aside Detzner’s ostensible concerns about implementation.
“The two-and-a-half years we have to implement is four times as long as some other states have taken. So any competent agency should be able to implement a system in that time frame.”
And if Scott wields his veto pen?
“Taxpayers will be negatively affected. In other states, online systems have saved millions in paper processing costs and data entry,” Clemens said.
The governor has 15 days — ending May 22 — to act upon the bill.
