Letter to Ron DeSantis, Governor of Florida, and Laurel Lee, Secretary of State of Florida - Soto, Florida Members Push Need to Safeguard State Elections

Letter

Dear Governor DeSantis and Secretary Lee,

We write in support of the several requests by our Supervisors of Elections (SOE) to safeguard
Florida's 2020 Primary and General Elections.

We thank you for requesting Florida's share of elections funding under the CARES Act. We
believe it is critical that the state adopt a distribution formula to award these funds as grants to
our county supervisors prior to the primary and general elections. This will ensure each
supervisor has sufficient resources to meet the increased costs of holding these elections during
the COVID-19 Pandemic. We will continue to do our part on the federal level by adequately
funding the United States Postal Service to handle the increased demand to vote by mail.

On April 7, 2020, the Florida SOEs requested guidance regarding the flexibility of voting
locations, an increase of early voting days, and other key recommendations to protect voter
access and safety for our elections. Time is of the essence to respond to these requests as soon as
possible so there is enough time for them to be implemented for the 2020 primary election, and
to be consistent for the 2020 general election.

It's also essential that we have safe polling places. We urge you to assist each Supervisor to
procure personal protection equipment for their poll workers. Given the likely lack of poll
workers due to the COVID-19 pandemic concerns, we strongly encourage you to call upon the
Florida National Guard to conduct poll worker duties to fill the gap where necessary. To avoid
any unintended voter intimidation, we believe our Florida National Guard would need to be
plain-clothed. We also welcome alternative ideas to sufficiently staff our polling places.

Thank you for your continued work with the Florida Congressional Delegation and for your full
and fair consideration of this letter.

Sincerely,
Reps. Darren Soto, Alcee Hastings, Charlie Crist, Lois Frankel, Debbie Mucarsel-Powell and Frederica S. Wilson.

Source