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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDriver's license system to blame for Florida primary glitch
TALLAHASSEE --
Floridas supervisors of elections are calling for changes after Floridas recent presidential primary.
They say a problem in the states drivers license computer system led to thousands of voters being turned away at the polls.
The voters thought they had been registered Republicans or Democrats, and there for able to vote in Floridas closed primaries.
However, many learned on election day that their political party affiliation had changed.
Ion Sancho, Leon County supervisor of elections, says the problem came from a drivers license system that also updated a persons voting record whenever they updated their drivers license in person.
The problem is a box on the form next to party affiliation was sometimes left unchecked, inadvertently changing the party affiliation for voters.
A screw-up or a glitch, in this instance, is not just merely a mistake, Sancho said. You're potentially depriving someone of a constitutional right, and that's simply not proper, and we need to make sure that if there are errors, there's a way to correct these errors so that the voter is not the one that's penalized.
The elections supervisors want to change it so that every time you update your drivers license, you get a receipt detailing all the changes made to the records, including voting status.
http://www.baynews9.com/content/news/baynews9/news/article.html/content/news/articles/cfn/2016/3/28/driver_s_license_sys.html?cid=facebook_Bay_News_9
NowSam
(1,252 posts)Should be allowed to vote late as in now to remedy the situation and restore their right to vote. Justice for all.
Kip Humphrey
(4,753 posts)Here is the most likely culprit: New voter registration software that integrates and communicates with the prevalent proprietary electronic voting software was rolled out post 2012 to most states operating ESS or Diebold GEMS software driven voting systems.
http://www.essvote.com/products/14/20/voter-registration-software/dims-net/
gratuitous
(82,849 posts)I wonder who is most likely to update their driver's license? Well-to-do folks who might be likely to vote Republican? Or poorer people changing their address because they had to move? I also wonder whose brilliant idea it was to change a person's registration without an affirmative change, but by failing to check a blank box?
postulater
(5,075 posts)My state has no requirement for any declaration of party affiliation. There are lots of benefits to this.
lostnfound
(16,189 posts)I'm sure it's just coincidence