Tallahassee, FL – HB 1205, a bill to restrict citizen-led amendments, was approved by the Florida House of Representatives earlier today. The citizen-led amendment process is one of the most direct ways Floridians can shape the future we all deserve. It embodies the collective power of Floridians, uniting us across race, zip code, and income to address the issues that matter most to our communities. This is direct democracy at its best—a system where the will of the people drives progress and shapes a better future.

If this bill or its companion in the Senate, SPB 7016, becomes law it will give only ten days to turn in petitions, and create unnecessary and burdensome fines on volunteers, preventing everyday Floridians from being able pass policies that improve our lives and strengthen our communities when politicians refuse to act.

State Voices Florida opposes this legislation and urges the Senate to reject both HB 1205 and SPB 7016. The citizen-led amendment process in Florida is the strictest in the nation, requiring nearly one million signatures to get on the ballot and 60% support from voters to pass. The process should be made easier…not harder.

JACKSONVILLE- Today, a coalition of voting rights organizations from North Florida and across the state released a letter to State Attorney Melissa Nelson, urging her office to reconsider its decision to drop all charges in what appears to be a clear case of voter intimidation at a Duval County polling site during the 2024 General Election. The coalition warns that the failure to prosecute voter intimidation sets a dangerous precedent and undermines public confidence in free and fair elections.

The letter, signed by organizations such as Northside Coalition of Jacksonville, Jacksonville Branch NAACP, and Jacksonville Community Action Committee, expresses deep concern over the decision not to prosecute an individual who reportedly brandished a machete at a polling location, threatening two women exercising their democratic rights.

“The facts of the case as publicly reported appear very compelling: a man wielding a deadly weapon approached a polling location and engaged in threatening behavior towards supporters of one of the presidential candidates on the ballot,” the letter states. “Your office’s dismissal of this case undermines public confidence in the justice system and fails in its duty to protect Florida voters.”

January 15, 2025 

 Dear Clerk, Manager or Administrator, 

As voting rights organizations, we truly appreciate the work the Supervisors of Elections across the state of Florida are doing to ensure voters have access to important information and are election-ready. However, this daunting task requires other election administrators, county officers, and municipal officers to do their part as well, especially as we approach special and municipal elections that may not be on voters’ radars, with the added caveat that many voters may also be unaware of the need to submit a new vote-by-mail request if that is their preferred voting method. 

Dear President Biden, 

On behalf of the 128 undersigned civil liberties, civil and human rights, faith-based, academic, and social justice organizations, we write to urge you to use your constitutionally provided power to commute the sentences of all individuals on federal death row. We commend your administration’s actions to repudiate capital punishment, including imposing a moratorium on executions for those sentenced to death, and for publicly calling for an end to the use of the death penalty during your 2020 campaign.¹ In the face of a second Trump administration, more is necessary. 

Forty people are currently on federal death row. Over half of those individuals are non-white, including 38% who are Black, despite Black adults representing 11.7% of the population.² The federal death penalty is not immune from the hallmark irreparable failures of the death penalty at the state level.³ Indeed, the nation bore witness to thirteen executions in the final seven months of the first Trump administration, all of which were marred with devastating issues endemic to capital punishment like racial bias, ineffective legal assistance, unreliable forensic evidence, and defendants executed who had substantial intellectual disabilities and severe mental health conditions.⁴ 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 5, 2024

Florida’s Voter Information Lookup Website Has Crashed, and Many County Information Lookup Sites are Also Down

FLORIDA – The Florida Election Protection Coalition is alerting the media and voters about today’s failure of the state of Florida Division of Elections to provide critical voting information for voters who are seeking to cast their votes today, Election Day, and an alternative solution for voters.

While this does not affect the vote count or tabulation, this does affect voters’ ability to access the ballot. Voters can call their county Supervisor of Elections office to find out information about their registration status or Election Day polling location.

Abdelilah Skhir, senior strategist, ACLU of Florida:

“On the last day to vote in the 2024 General Election, the Florida Division of Elections voter lookup tool is down. The state must make it a priority to correct this issue. Thousands of voters are looking up their voter information and planning where to vote – this is a delay that interrupts their ability to cast their ballot. With hours left until the polls close, we must ensure that every eligible voter in Florida can participate in the democratic process.”

Amy Keith, executive director of Common Cause Florida:

“It is urgent for voters to be able to find the information they need to vote today. While these websites are down, voters should call their county supervisor of elections office on the phone to get the information they need before they go vote.”

Voters experiencing look-up tool issues should contact their county Supervisor of Elections. Voters can find the phone number for their supervisor of elections at this website.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Abdelilah (Ab-Dee-Lah) Skhir, ACLU of Florida, 786-363-1660

Jennifer Garcia, Common Cause, jgarcia@commoncause.org, 727-717-2308

The below-signed organizations write to express our concern about the impact of Hurricane Helene on Floridians’ ability to successfully vote in the 2024 General Election, for which voting by mail has already begun. We appreciate the issuing of Executive Order Number 24-212, which will provide Supervisors of Elections much-needed flexibility in Charlotte, Citrus, Dixie, Hernando, Hillsborough, Lee, Levy, Madison, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas, Sarasota, and Taylor Counties. We respectfully urge you to supplement this with additional action as deadlines such as the voter registration deadline rapidly approach. 

The destruction caused by Hurricane Helene has displaced thousands of Floridians and significantly disrupted election administration in affected counties. Unable to return to their homes and struggling to recover, Floridians are forced to navigate and identify alternative means of voting.¹ Election officials in several counties have reported challenges arising from displaced voters and displaced poll workers, as well as damage and disruptions to voting sites and other election infrastructure.² Supervisors of Elections need extended time and flexibility to solve for the widespread damage and displacement as a result of Hurricane Helene.³

In light of the above, we respectfully request that the Governor and Secretary of State take the following emergency actions to ensure voting access for all Floridians.

The below-signed organizations write to express our concern about the impact of Hurricane Helene on Floridians’ ability to successfully vote in the 2024 General Election, for which voting by mail has already begun. We appreciate the issuing of Executive Order Number 24-212, which will provide Supervisors of Elections much-needed flexibility in Charlotte, Citrus, Dixie, Hernando, Hillsborough, Lee, Levy, Madison, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas, Sarasota, and Taylor Counties. We respectfully urge you to supplement this with additional action as deadlines such as the voter registration deadline rapidly approach. 

The destruction caused by Hurricane Helene has displaced thousands of Floridians and significantly disrupted election administration in affected counties. Unable to return to their homes and struggling to recover, Floridians are forced to navigate and identify alternative means of voting.¹ Election officials in several counties have reported challenges arising from displaced voters and displaced poll workers, as well as damage and disruptions to voting sites and other election infrastructure.² Supervisors of Elections need extended time and flexibility to solve for the widespread damage and displacement as a result of Hurricane Helene.³

In light of the above, we respectfully request that the Governor and Secretary of State take the following emergency actions to ensure voting access for all Floridians.

Dear Ashley E. Davis:

We are writing to provide comments on the proposed changes to Rule 1S-2.048: State and Federal- Designated NVRA Voter Registration Agencies – Responsibilities published on August 14, 2024. In addition, we request remote access to the hearing for the reasons identified below.

While we appreciate the recent inclusion of the requirement for printing of forms for individuals who cannot complete the application online, the new version of the proposed rule contains numerous concerning changes that threaten the accuracy of the voter registration list specifically as it relates to the ability of naturalized citizens to register and remain registered free of barriers and intimidation. We request the following changes to the proposed rule:

On Wednesday, April 17, 2024, a new uniform vote-by-mail request form (DS-DE 160) for the state of Florida went into effect, and the state has made it available in English and Spanish. However, we would like to call attention to the need for broader resources to assist voters whose primary language is not English during the electoral process; in particular, we would like to call attention to the needs of Haitian voters, which in Polk County, we have estimated the number to be at least 4,197 voters, based on the latest Target Smart¹ data by way of Civis Analytics.²

Currently, only the county of Miami-Dade has a local ordinance that requires electoral materials to be available in Haitian Creole. As such, the county has made available a new vote-by-mail request form in the language. Broward County has also voluntarily adopted a similar form. Given the growth of Haitian voters in your county, we kindly ask that your office accept vote-by-mail requests that are made using the Haitian Creole translated version of the form, make printed forms available at the SOE main and branch offices, and establish procedures to ensure voters know how to obtain the form and that the requests are processed.

While dis- and misinformation about our elections have circulated for many years, the 2020 election acted as the impetus for sowing doubt regarding the safety and security of our voting systems, particularly in relation to falsehoods perpetuated around the safety and reliability of vote-by-mail ballots. All election disinformation is dangerous; according to POLITICO, “disinformation alone has now become the single biggest threat to electoral integrity in many countries around the world, meaning that what election authorities have traditionally seen as their biggest obligation — organizing technically competent free and fair elections — is no longer enough.”¹

Our organizations want to stress the critical role you play in combating dis- and misinformation. Your role requires you to avoid the amplification of false claims and share accurate and reliable information from trusted sources such as the Supervisor of Elections Office about the election process through all available means.

We want to reaffirm that there are systems in place that guarantee the safety and accuracy of our elections. These include:

All Voting is Local Action and the below-signed organizations are deeply concerned about the attached email sent by Director Maria Mathews to supervisors of elections on May 15, 2024, directing them to conduct voter registration list maintenance under Sections 98.045(2), 98.065, or 98.075(6)-(7) of Florida Statutes, using data produced by a private citizen affiliated with EagleAI. Such action would likely violate state and possibly federal law and improperly jeopardize the voting status of thousands of Floridians.

According to the email sent by Director Matthews, a concerned citizen shared a list of approximately 10,000 Florida voters who they asserted should be examined for list maintenance. The email’s sender said the list was generated with the assistance of EagleAI. EagleAI is a list-matching database that relies exclusively on publicly available information, all of which is insufficient to determine whether a voter is eligible to vote at their registration address. According to Georgia Elections Director Blake Evans, “EagleAI draws inaccurate conclusions and then presents them as if they are evidence of wrongdoing.”¹

State Voices Florida was proud to take part in a rally in support of the Harry T. and Harriette V. Moore Voting Rights Act at the Florida Capitol on Wednesday, February 7. We want to extend our thanks to Equal Ground and  the NAACP of Florida for planning and putting on this event. It was a joyous occasion with many different organizations coming together in solidarity.

While it has no chance of passing this session, it will be the most important piece of voting rights legislation in the history of Florida whenever it does become law.

The legislation is named in honor of Harry T. and Harriette V. Moore, two of Florida’s most important voting rights advocates who died championing the right to vote for Black Floridians.

State Voices joined with other supporters outside of the Florida Supreme Court in support of Amendment 4. This is the abortion ballot initiative that would legalize reproductive freedom in the Florida Constitution. The Florida Supreme Court reviewed the ballot language on Wednesday, February 7. As Communications Director Larry Hannan explains in the video below, the Supreme Court reviewed whether the ballot language was clear for voters.

Larry was one of the many who showed up for the Supreme Court oral argument to show their support for reproductive freedom. Now that the ballot signature requirement has been achieved we still have the challenge of getting people to the polls in November. Polling shows that the majority of Floridians support Amendment 4, but we must get to 60% to win.

Today is Giving Tuesday, a global generosity movement unleashing the power of people and organizations to transform their communities, and that is what we hope to do, transform communities. State Voices Florida is a  statewide civic engagement organization committed to bringing together progressive Non Partisan organizations to work together in building power around civic issues.  If the progressive movement works together and speaks with one voice, great things will happen. We believe everyone should have the right to vote, and voting should be simple and easy. We also support reproductive rights, environmental justice, criminal justice reform, economic justice and affordable housing for everyone. Along with our partner organizations, we use data and technology, people-powered campaigns, and coalitions to collectively build a multiracial democracy that allows every Floridian to thrive and live in their full dignity. We are a member of the State Voices Affiliated Network, a network of state-based coalitions,

That’s where Election Protection comes in. Learn more about Election Protection from our own State Voices Florida Operations Manager, Leonardo Placeres.

Floridians across the state are hearing a lot about redistricting.If you’re not sure what it is, and its significance in the fight for a healthy democracy and political power for Black people, Indigenous people, and other people of color, you’re in the right place.

Registering and voting is as easy as pie. It’s true. Possibly even easier. All you have to do to register is visit our Rock the Vote website and go ahead and register! It only takes about five minutes. Once you’ve registered, you’re all ready to cast your ballot at your local polling station.