Florida Mail-In Voting Limits Could Hurt Dems in November

Changes to mail-in voting practices in Florida could have an outsized impact on Democrats in the upcoming general election who traditionally rely on the method more than their GOP counterparts, the Washington Examiner reported Thursday.

Florida’s 2021 election law altered the state’s mail-in voting policy, cancelling the previous practice of allowing vote-by-mail requests to remain valid for multiple election cycles. Because of that law, Floridians must request a mail-in ballot within 10 days of the election, meaning the deadline for a request this year is Oct. 24.

“It’s definitely inconvenient, and unfortunately we have to start all over again,” Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried told Politico, according to the Examiner. “It’s a waste of everyone’s resources to get access to voting.”

Politico also noted, according to the Examiner, that Florida Republicans previously dominated mail-in voting in the state, but that switched in 2020, when more Democrats voted by mail in the general election.

Ryan Tyson, a pollster and consultant who worked with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on his presidential campaign, told Politico that he voted by mail in eight previous elections but was unable to do so in the GOP presidential primary in March.

“I was in another state the day of the primary,” Tyson said. “I was in Colorado when I tried to request one and was notified I missed the window.”

Said Florida GOP Chair Evan Power: “We’re going to try to get requests back because there are some people who will only vote by mail.”

Power added that Republicans who previously used a mail-in ballot would resubmit their request and are “probably confident in the Florida system. It’s just a matter of them getting to request it.”