FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 7, 2024

TALLAHASSEE —  All Voting is Local’s Florida State Director Brad Ashwell issued the following statement in response to Wednesday’s vote by Hillsborough County commissioners to cut the county’s election budget by $200,000, despite the budget already being approved:

“This sizable cut to the Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections budget sets a dangerous precedent for elections in Florida if county officials can arbitrarily slash necessary funding whenever they want. County commissioners are making a very short-sighted decision by justifying the budget cut due to outreach by the supervisor of election to inactive voters. 

“Years of suppressive voting legislation in the state are now bearing fruit. One of Florida’s many new anti-voter laws has made it more likely that voters will be removed from voter rolls through additional list maintenance, thus giving Hillsborough county commissioners a bogus excuse to take away already-approved funding for the supervisor of elections office. Funding for our elections directly improves essential voting functions that make the process less confusing or burdensome for voters.

“If sustained, this decision will negatively affect voters across the Tampa Bay area, and it has the horrifying potential to reverberate across the state if other counties follow suit.”

Contact: Michael Krumholtz, michael@allvotingislocal.org 

All Voting is Local (All Voting) is a 501(c)(3), nonpartisan, multi-state organization that fights against state and local voting policies that silence Americans’ voices, particularly for Black, Brown, Native American, and other historically marginalized communities — not just in election years, but every year. We were founded on the principle that the problems people face when trying to vote are solvable if state and local decision-makers are accountable to the communities they serve. All Voting is committed to working with our partners to advance fair, inclusive rules on voter registration, remove barriers that make it more difficult for people to vote, and ensure every vote counts. All Voting is on the ground in eight states: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Within these states, we are active in more than 60 counties that are home to over 21 million people of color. During the 2022 cycle, All Voting programs expanded access for more than 635,000 voters. Learn more at www.AllVotingisLocal.org 

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