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Florida joins 29-state compact to clean up voter rolls and reach out to non-registered residents

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis thanks Florida Secretary of State Laurel Lee, far right, after making the announcement that Florida will join 29 other states to implement a database that will improve voter roll accuracy, during a press conference at the Orange County Supervisor of Elections Office in Orlando, Fla., Wednesday, August 21, 2019. (Joe Burbank//Orlando Sentinel via AP)
Joe Burbank/AP
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis thanks Florida Secretary of State Laurel Lee, far right, after making the announcement that Florida will join 29 other states to implement a database that will improve voter roll accuracy, during a press conference at the Orange County Supervisor of Elections Office in Orlando, Fla., Wednesday, August 21, 2019. (Joe Burbank//Orlando Sentinel via AP)
Steven Lemongello poses for an NGUX portrait in Orlando on Friday, October 31, 2014. (Joshua C. Cruey/Orlando Sentinel)

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More than a year after it was authorized by the Legislature, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday gave the state’s 67 elections supervisors their number one priority for 2020 by joining a multi-state compact to share voter roll information.

DeSantis said Florida would become the 29th state to join the Electronic Registration Information Center, or ERIC, which makes it easier to track voter registrations across state lines, clean up voter polls of deceased voters and — possibly most importantly — reach out via mail to every eligible but unregistered voter in Florida.

DeSantis estimated that between 4 million to 5 million Floridians aren’t registered to vote.

Earlier this year, Division of Elections director Maria Matthews alluded to the unregistered voter outreach provision in ERIC as the “stick” in a “carrot and stick” in talking about whether to join the compact.

That description was criticized by some supervisors, and some critics held it up as the reason the DeSantis administration was slow in joining the partnership.

Supervisors “bristled at the idea that reaching out to unregistered voters should be viewed as some sort of punishment,” Politico reported in May.

On Wednesday, the governor made it clear the state would only be making the mass voter outreach because it was an ERIC requirement. He said he was skeptical Florida would get a huge response in voter registration.

“People spend big money trying to get voters registered,” DeSantis said at the Orange County elections office in Orlando. “If it was just as easy to send them a postcard in the mail and fill it out, well, that would make it much easier. And typically you’ve [actually] got to do more outreach than that.”

He said joining with other states “makes the most sense” for keeping voter rolls clean, “especially given the fact that we have a lot of people moving into the state.”

Joining ERIC, which was started in seven states in 2012 but has grown to include 28 states and Washington, D.C., will allow supervisors to match duplicate registrations for people who have moved to Florida but remain registered in another state.

The vast majority of people with dual registrations aren’t breaking the law or committing fraud, DeSantis noted. But it does create confusion when attempting to keep voter rolls accurate.

“If you move from Michigan, no one calls their supervisor and says, ‘Hey, I’m leaving, take me off the rolls.’ They just move,” he said. “And so most of the people who are registered in two places don’t ever intend to and will not vote in both places.”

ERIC would also help better identify voters who have died, using their Social Security records.

“Obviously when people pass away, we wish them all the best in the world that lies ahead, but we don’t want them still involved in politics,” DeSantis said.

DeSantis, who was joined by Florida Secretary of State Laurel Lee and Florida State Association of Supervisors of Elections President Tammy Jones, said the Legislature will need to approve the $1.3 million cost of mailing postcards to all eligible but unregistered voters.

But Okaloosa supervisor Paul Lux said those costs will come down considerably for the next election cycle after 2020. ERIC requires each eligible voter be notified just one time only, Lux said, and going forward the state would only have to reach out to new residents arriving after each election.

The decision to join comes a year after Gov. Rick Scott signed a bill making the state eligible to join ERIC.

Supervisors, many of whom were at the Orange elections office for the announcement, said they were thrilled about the decision, which they have been pushing for for years — and which they did not know was coming as of Wednesday morning.

“For our association, which was meeting this morning to go over our legislative priorities, this was our number one priority to get the Legislature to do,” said Orange supervisor Bill Cowles. “And we just crossed that off our list.”

Patricia Brigham, the president of the Florida League of Women Voters, said the league was “delighted” DeSantis joined the compact.

“There was a delay, there’s no question about that,” Brigham said. “I can’t speculate as to why. The main thing is to focus on the positive. DeSantis put the kibosh on that [delay], and now it’s up to the Legislature to make sure money is allocated for ERIC.”

DeSantis also touched on a recent study by Daniel A. Smith at the University of Florida that estimated 4 in 5 ex-felons would not have their voting rights restored following the passage of Amendment 4 last year because they still owed fines, fees or restitution. Paying those in full was a requirement included in a law implementing Amendment 4 DeSantis signed in June.

DeSantis said a study doesn’t include all data and it was still unclear how many former felons still owed money as part of their sentences.

And, he said, the controversial law “is actually more liberal than what the actual amendment [said], because the amendment did not have any accommodation for people who were indigent. The Legislature provided that, and so if you owe $500 in restitution, you can actually go to the court and say, ‘I just can’t pay it, but I’d like to do that.’ And the court can give you relief. The amendment provided no pathway for that.”

slemongello@orlandosentinel.com