TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – For the second week in a row, Florida’s elections supervisors are reaching out.
Last week it was a letter to officials asking them to tone down the rhetoric, and this week it’s a letter to voters asking them not to be fooled by misinformation.
Last November, Gov. Ron DeSantis said the ghost of Florida’s contested 2000 election was finally dead.
“Finally vanquished the ghost of Bush v. Gore,” said DeSantis.
But for some, doubts remain.
A Walton County man is facing $50-a-day fines for allegedly violating sign regulations for displaying a “Trump Won” banner.
State Rep. Anthony Sabatini has filed legislation (HB 99), calling for a forensic audit of Florida’s 2020 election, which former President Donald Trump won by four points.
“There’s a lot of people in the state who do not trust the verification of this election. They don’t trust it, and they know an audit will show it was either completely fine or not completely fine. That’s the only thing it will show,” said Sabatini.
Next year’s August primary is 300 days away, and the November general is in 377 days away.
Elections supervisors are already worrying that the chatter and rhetoric from elected officials and others are casting doubt over what they do.
Mark Earley is the president-elect of the Supervisors Association, which has now sent letters to elected officials and voters attempting to instill confidence in the system.
“The power of social media, and combined with human frailty, those two are mixing together in a way that’s never happened before. I think some people have used that, are abusing that, to sway people’s opinion and undermine their faith in elections,” said Earley.
Supervisors told us that they had to start their campaign more than a year from next fall’s election to fight through the clutter of social media and assure people their votes really do count.
If the mistrust lingers, it’s only going to make the supervisor’s job that much harder.