Florida is reaching out to more than 2 million unregistered voters and urging them to register by the state’s Oct. 5 deadline.
The Department of State announced Friday it was sending out postcards to about 2.2 million people who appear eligible to vote but are not listed on Florida’s voter rolls.
The state is doing the outreach effort to meet requirements of the multi-state partnership known as the Electronic Registration Information Center, or ERIC. Gov. Ron DeSantis in August 2019 announced that Florida would join the organization, which allows states to share information to determine if people are registered in more than one state or if they are deceased.
“This unprecedented outreach is a testament to the commitment Governor DeSantis and the Florida Legislature have for registering new voters and encouraging participation in our democratic processes,” Florida Secretary of State Laurel Lee in a prepared statement.
The department said the postcards — which will be written in English and Spanish —- will be sent out over the next several days.
The agency said the time for the postcards was selected in consultation with ERIC as the most “effective” period to do voter outreach. The postcards urge people interested in registering to go to Florida’s online voter-registration system at RegistertoVoteFlorida.gov.
Support local journalism in these crazy days. Our small but mighty team is working tirelessly to bring you up to the minute news on how Coronavirus is affecting Tampa and surrounding areas. Please consider making a one time or monthly donation to help support our staff. Every little bit helps.
Follow @cl_tampabay on Twitter to get the most up-to-date news + views. Subscribe to our newsletter, too.
This article appears in Sep 10-16, 2020.
