A bill in the Florida Legislature sponsored by State Rep. Cyndi Stevenson (R- District 17) would move to protect private voter information from being accessed in public view. The intention is to keep third-party voter registration groups from obtaining private information.
Stevenson said she has been working with the First Amendment Foundation (FAF) on possible amendments to the bill and eliminating a provision that would require a third party group to apply for voter information from the Secretary of State office.
The FAF voiced its concerns over the bill.
“I talked to some different organizations,” said Virginia Hamrick. “They do use this information for voter outreach and to make people aware of different election issues, to give out voter information and when elections are going to happen, what they need to have.”
Previously, The Florida Capital Star reported on two men arrested in connection to voter registration forgeries.
The two men, based out of Jacksonville, were hired by Grassfire, a petition and canvassing company.
“Grassfire has hired nearly 4,000 people in 2021 to work as petitioners and Grassfire has NEVER conducted a voter registration project,” said Lee Vasche, who is a partner at Grassfire. “These two individuals worked for Grassfire for less than a week in June of 2021 on a petition project, NOT voter registration. We have fully assisted law enforcement and provided them ALL the documentation we had on both of these individuals and support their prosecution to the maximum.”
The Duval County supervisor of elections, Mike Hogan, did say that the men were, in fact, working to register voters. Hogan said that tactics used by the arrested men, primarily being paid by third-party organizations on a per-voter registered basis, provide an incentive to register as many people as possible.
Third-party organizations were addressed in Florida’s new election integrity law signed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) in the Spring. SB 90 provides a framework and penalties for third-party voter registration groups. The framework includes rules on the timeliness and method of turning in a voter registration application.
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Grant Holcomb is a reporter at The Florida Capital Star and The Star News Network. Follow Grant on Twitter and direct message tips.
Photo “Rep. Cyndi Stevenson” by Cyndi Stevenson. “Background Photo “Election Day” by Phil Roeder CC BY 2.0.
