TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Thursday that he was initiating an executive order to help ensure voters in Charlotte, Lee and Sarasota counties have adequate access to voting in the 2022 election after Hurricane Ian caused major devastation in those areas.
DeSantis worked with the Supervisors of Elections in Charlotte, Lee, and Sarasota counties and the Secretary of State Cord Byrd to help Floridians displaced in Southwest Florida and provide options to ensure they receive an opportunity to cast their ballots.
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Executive Order 22-234 will extend early voting as early as Oct. 24 through Nov. 8. It also designates additional early voting locations.
The order will allow Charlotte, Lee, and Sarasota county residents to call and request a vote-by-mail ballot to be mailed to another address besides the address on record. Voters will still need to provide an appropriate form of ID in the same manner as absent uniform service and overseas voters.
The order mandates that voters should receive notice of the locations for secure ballot intake stations and that officials relocate and consolidate polling locations as necessary.
Increase the pool of eligible poll workers in the listed counties by making eligible any poll workers previously trained for the 2020 election cycle and thereafter and by encouraging state employees to serve as poll workers in these counties.
“In the wake of Hurricane Ian, the Florida Department of State has worked with Florida’s Supervisors of Elections and Governor DeSantis to ensure that the 2022 General Election is administered as efficiently and securely as possible across the state and in the counties that received the heaviest damage,” said Byrd.