Florida Supervisors of Elections seek looser rules, adjustments after Helene

Voting gets a stress test in areas ravaged by Hurricane Ian.

As recovery efforts continue in the wake of Hurricane Helene, an organization representing election officials across all 67 Florida counties is asking state officials to temporarily loosen its election restrictions so voters have a fair shot at casting ballots.

In a Tuesday letter, Florida Supervisors of Elections (FSE) Executive Director David Ramba implored Secretary of State Cord Byrd and Division of Elections Director Maria Matthews to support an executive order allowing workarounds in 10 counties.

They include Charlotte, Citrus, Dixie, Hillsborough, Lee, Levy, Pinellas, Manatee, Sarasota and Taylor.

“Hurricane Helene devastated counties in many parts of Florida (and) displaced countless voters and poll workers from their homes in a number of impacted counties,” Ramba wrote.

“The Supervisor of Elections in each of these counties wants to continue to provide its voters with the best possible voting experience … in an efficient and orderly manner while ensuring the security and integrity of the Nov. 5 General Election.”

Accommodations FSE requested for those counties include:

— Early voting site adjustments, including site flexibility, suspension of certain deadlines and restrictions, an extension of early voting days and a longer time frame for voting on Election Day. This includes allowing the affected counties to conduct early voting on the Monday before Election Day, which typically doesn’t happen.

— Relocation or consolidation of polling place locations to compensate for previously established sites that sustained excessive damage. The letter also requested that the Executive Order allow each county’s Supervisor of Elections to use a mobile unit, if needed, to accommodate areas without a sufficient brick-and-mortar alternative polling site.

— Vote-by-mail modifications, including allowing voters to pick up their mail-in ballots in person and a waiver of the requirement that a voter submit a signed, written request for a mail-in ballot if the address they’re asking it to be sent to doesn’t match what’s on file. This temporary change, Ramba said, will help displaced voters to participate in the General Election by allowing them to request ballots at temporary addresses in writing, online and by phone.

— The ability to designate secure ballot intake stations (i.e., ballot drop sites) with reduced notice periods.

— Waivers of poll worker requirements to allow any poll worker who received training within the past two years to work at a voting site through the General Election and to permit poll workers who aren’t registered voters in a given county to work there this year.

Helene made landfall with Florida at around 11 p.m. on Thursday at Category 4 strength before sweeping through Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina, destroying homes and infrastructure, killing at least 135 people, and leaving 600 others missing.

Ramba noted the FSE request followed others from individual county Supervisors of Elections, including one Julie Marcus of Pinellas sent Byrd and Matthews on Monday about 40 polling locations that may require alternatives after suffering “significant damage” during the storm.

Ramba added that the FSE requests now are commensurate with provisions granted in Executive Orders following Hurricane Ian in 2022 and Hurricane Michael in 2018.