TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida Secretary of State Laurel Lee, in an interview with POLITICO on Tuesday, said that fewer than 100 felons are expected to be identified for possible removal from the state’s voter rolls between now and Election Day.
Lee also talked about the runup to the crucial election, saying that the state has taken significant steps to beef up its cybersecurity efforts and should not have any widespread problems due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Lee, a former judge tapped by Gov. Ron DeSantis as the state’s chief election official, has been at the center of a flurry of election-related litigation and mishaps during the nearly two years she has been on the job, including revelations about Russian hacking in 2016 and most recently the crashing of the state’s online voter registration portal ahead of the deadline.
The DeSantis administration will be under heightened scrutiny since the battleground state is crucial to President Donald Trump’s reelection strategy. Slightly more than 3 million voters — out of more than 14 million on the rolls — have already cast ballots.
Last week, the state Division of Elections announced that it would begin looking to remove felons from the voting rolls if they had outstanding court debts. Many felons had their voting rights restored after voters approved Amendment 4 in 2018, but the Republican-controlled Legislature passed a law that restricted eligibility if a felon owed court-imposed fees, fines or restitution. The law drew a fierce legal challenge from critics who called it a “modern-day poll tax,” but the measure was upheld by a federal appeals court last month.
The state had not been screening felons before the appeals court ruling so it startled opponents of the law and election supervisors when Lee’s office announced the move.
Lee defended taking steps now, even though under state law any voter flagged could not be removed prior to Election Day due to notice requirements.
“There was no longer a legal basis to defer from fulfilling that state responsibility,” Lee said.
Critics said the move would create confusion, while Mark Herron, an election law attorney who represents Florida Democrats, was fearful the list would be used to challenge election results.
Lee stressed that her office was moving methodically and was making sure it had up-to-date information — including whether or not someone had recently paid off their court debts. She said the state has started sending files down to local supervisors — who have the ultimate say on whether to remove a voter — but that at the current pace fewer than 100 voters would be identified between now and Election Day.
“We are working very hard to ensure that we conduct a thorough review of these voter records before they are forwarded,” Lee said.
Weighing in on an ongoing controversy in South Florida, Lee said that Florida election officials cannot deny someone access to in-person voting if they fail to wear a mask. Early voting got started in more than 50 counties on Monday and more than 300,000 people voted during the first day.
“We will not be turning voters away,” Lee said. “However, we are working very hard to ensure that in-person voting is kept safe, that precinct locations are sanitized and social distancing is observed. Voters are all being encouraged to wear masks out of courtesy for fellow voters and election workers.”
Some Broward County officials want voters kept out of the polls if they fail to wear a mask as required by local ordinances. State Sen. Gary Farmer, the incoming Senate Democratic leader, on Monday tweeted out “Again, all law enforcement agencies in Broward, PLEASE ENFORCE THE LAW....no mask, no vote is the only enforcement!”
Florida’s pivotal role in this year’s elections also comes four years after Russian hackers successfully accessed the voter registration systems of two counties, a fact that was not known publicly until last year. Recently, a group of computer scientists also raised questions about whether or not one of the main voting systems used in Florida is vulnerable.
Lee, however, maintained the state has taken multiple steps since 2016 to harden defenses of state and local systems, including beefing up spending on cybersecurity efforts and creating a stand-alone cybersecurity unit inside the Department of State. The state also conducted a risk assessment for all 67 counties, although it has kept the results of that analysis secret.
“We have worked hand in hand with all 67 supervisors of election over the last year and a half to mitigate or address any vulnerabilities we identified,” Lee said.
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