In Florida, false rumors circulated just before the August primary about poll workers invalidating ballots by writing on them. There are already concerns that the general election in November will see low voter turnout, voters being dropped from the rolls, intimidation at polling places, and state officials refusing to certify the results.
Some of these fears are justified, says Brad Ashwell, Florida director of All Voting Is Local, a nonpartisan nonprofit that fights voter suppression.
"We're seeing a lot of people showing up at election offices or canvassing wards and being very aggressive towards election officials and election staff and trying to intimidate them," he says. "They're trying to call for things that don't make sense, like the hand-counting of ballots, or accusing them of having noncitizens on the rolls or of not being transparent. These folks who are working on the front lines of our elections are really getting bruised up by these folks who are showing up to harass them.
"That's one of the biggest trends we saw in Florida during the primary that we're likely to see in a much larger way during the general election."
Turnout for the primary was just 19.3 percent in Miami-Dade County. Officials expect much larger numbers in November — and a correspondingly higher potential for problems.
Should Floridians Be Concerned About Election Day Shenanigans?
Ashwell doesn't think it's time to panic, though. He believes there are sufficient checks in the voting process to ensure that the machines work properly and all the ballots are counted. Poll workers are being trained in de-escalation strategies. Law enforcement is working with election supervisors to prevent violence at polling places — though he acknowledges that the presence of cops may not be especially comforting to Black and Latin voters. The goal, Ashwell says, is to strike a balance between having enough police on site to discourage voter intimidation but not so many that the cops themselves become a source of intimidation.Another factor in discouraging voters is the Office of Election Crimes and Security, AKA the "election police," a bureaucracy Gov. Ron DeSantis created in 2022 ostensibly to prevent voter fraud, though its workings remain mysterious — until recently, Ashwell says, it didn't even have a website, which made it difficult to track complaints — and the arrests it has made suspect. Also dubious: reports that election police were showing up at the homes of Lee County residents who'd signed a petition in support of Amendment 4, which would enshrine abortion rights in the Florida constitution. But Ashwell says the DeSantis brigade won't affect the election-day experience of most voters.
As for certification, a process that, prior to the 2020 election, most Americans took for granted would be peaceful and boring, Ashwell believes that many — though not all — of the threats to challenge results are "just noise. A lot of it is designed more as a PR strategy to shake the public base or trust in the election process and to taint the whole process, not just any single election."
How Can Voters Ensure an Uneventful Trip to the Polls?
In order to avoid intimidation at the polls, disqualification of your ballot, and rumors that might derail your plan to vote, Ashwell has these pieces of advice:First, the websites of the Miami-Dade County and Broward County supervisor of elections are the most accurate and reliable sources of information about anything pertaining to voting.
Second, check your voter registration in advance at registertovoteflorida.gov.
Since 2021, the state has been cracking down on third-party voter registration. The best way to register now is through the website. (Though if you don't have a Florida driver's license or state ID, you will have to mail in your form to verify your identity; Ashwell hopes that by the next election, a social security number will be sufficient.) The deadline to register for the November 5 election is October 7.
Finally, and most importantly, to avoid long lines, intimidation at the polls, or disqualification of your ballot, vote early, either by mail or in person. The deadline to request a mail-in ballot is October 24. Early voting in both Miami-Dade and Broward counties begins October 21 and ends November 3. Polling places are open every day, including weekends, and voters can go wherever they like as long as it's in their home county. Locations and hours are posted on the supervisor of elections websites.
The other advantage of voting early, Ashwell says, is that voters can check the status of their ballots through the ballot notification system and correct any errors that might prevent their votes from getting counted on election day.
"I don't think people should be intimidated from voting or get too apprehensive," he says. "It's going to get negative. There are going to be scary stories. But most people are going to be able to vote just fine."
