Palm Beach elections office alerts 30,000 voters to update registration details

[RandySF]

PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. (CBS12) — The Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Office has notified about 30,000 registered voters about missing information in their voter registration records.

According to Florida Election laws, individuals need to have their Florida driver's license number, Florida identification number, or the last four digits of their Social Security Number to request a Vote-by-Mail ballot or make changes to their registration record.

The elections office sent these voters a form and a pre-addressed stamped envelope to help them update their information.

The voters were also instructed to update their voter registration online at VotePalmBeach.gov.

[Think. Again.]

1. Another purge attempt?

According to the OP, this info is needed if they want to request a vote-by-mail ballot, so isn't this info just part of the vote-by-mail request form?

[hay rick]

2. Just the opposite.

The request for a vote by mail requires the voter to give either their Florida Driver's License number or the last 4 digits of their SS number. The Supervisor of Election gets this information from the voter, not government agencies. Notifying the voter that the SOE is not in possession of this information gives the voter the opportunity to provide the information and become eligible to order a mail ballot.

[Think. Again.]

3. Right, so doesn't the mail-in-ballot request form ask for this additional info?

[hay rick]

4. The form does request this information.

My understanding is that the information provided has to match information already provided on a voter registration form. Long time residents may have been registered before that ID information was required, hence is not on file. My Supervisor of Elections sent out similar notices at least a year ago. She was a long time resident and was one of the voters who had to provide that information. If there is a suppression element it would be that the notices are being sent out so close to the start of voting for the August primary.

I suppose the justification is that it is easier to look up a local file rather than run confirmation through an external government agency. Vote by mail requests can also be ordered by phone. Our local party sends out robocalls, text messages, emails, and postcards prompting Democrats to sign up so that the Supervisor's office is prone to receive such requests in inconvenient clumps.