ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – Gov. Ron DeSantis made a stop Wednesday afternoon at the Orange County Supervisor of Elections Office to announce Florida is joining a system to ensure the accuracy of voter rolls.
Florida's participation in the Electronic Registration Information Center, or ERIC, is expected to be finalized before the 2020 general election. So far, 29 other states use the system.
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Now, Florida supervisors of elections will be able to match duplicate registrations from other states and make sure people who have died are removed from registries.
"I think what it’ll allow us to do is keep the voter rolls accurate," DeSantis said.
The state Legislature has already approved Florida's participation in the program, and DeSantis hopes it will also approve the $1.3 million cost, which will go toward mailing eligible Floridians who are not yet registered to vote in hopes of getting them registered before each election cycle.
DeSantis said because about 1,000 people move to the Sunshine State daily, there's likely between 4 and 5 million people who are eligible but not yet registered to vote locally.
Even then, Florida State Association of Supervisors of Elections president Tammy Jones said the system will likely save the state money in the long run because addresses will be more accurate, so mailings won't be wasted.
“Right now, we have a lot of people on the roll that we send information to that no longer exist, so this will actually give more integrity and security to our process because our addressing will be more correct with each voter," Jones said.
Florida Secretary of State Laurel Lee said all 67 supervisors of elections supported participation in ERIC.
"This will lead to increased voter registration in Florida and more citizens engaged in the electoral process," she said.