Telegraph Staff Writer
STARKE— The Supervisors of Elections from Northeast Florida met in Green Cove Springs on March 13 to discuss IT issues, voter registration, grants and other topics.
Bradford elections chief Amanda Seyfang said the supervisors and staff from District 5 of the Florida Association of Supervisors of Elections have been meeting regularly by conference call but decided to meet in person for their March gathering. The officials meeting in Green Cove Springs included those from Clay, Bradford, Union, Nassau, Baker, Flagler, St. Johns and Duval counties.
Seyfang said pending legislation and regulation from Tallahassee affecting voting in Florida includes a possible redesign of the vote-by-mail envelope and changes in requirements for voter list maintenance.
She also said that in early March, Florida withdrew from the Electronic Registration Information Center, a national database designed to assist states in maintaining accurate voter lists and prevent duplicate voter registration.
Florida’s Secretary of State Cord Byrd announced on March 6 that Florida’s withdrawal from the center follows efforts to reform what he called the center’s partisan leanings.
“Today’s announcement follows efforts led by Florida over the past year to reform ERIC through attempts to secure data and eliminate ERIC’s partisan tendencies, all of which were rejected,” Byrd said in a news release. “Withdrawing from ERIC will ensure the data privacy of Florida voters is protected. Florida is joined in withdrawing from ERIC Membership today by the states of Missouri and West Virginia.”
