(Tallahassee, FL, Tuesday, July 7, 2020) – Part of ensuring that people are able participate in the upcoming elections in Florida is to ensure the cornerstone of the voting process which is the ability to register to vote.

For Floridians, the ability to register is hampered by an online voting registration system that often fails at inopportune times – like right before an election.

All Voting is Local Florida is demanding Governor DeSantis and Secretary of State Laurel Lee to ensure that the online voter registration system, that they manage, be prepared to handle the onslaught of users ahead of the August primary and the November elections. This is their responsibility and can be rectified well in advance of the August primary date.

Ensuring that the online voter registration system is prepared will make voting free, fair and accessible to everyone who wants to participate is essential.

Additionally, we are still in a pandemic and people need to understand all options to safely cast their ballots and one way to do that is to vote by mail.

From the infamous hanging chads of the 2000 election to long lines at polling places in 2018, Florida voters have faced countless barriers to the ballot. Time and again, election officials make decision that erect barriers to the same communities that know the harm of being disenfranchised: African Americans, low-income voters, students and people who don’t speak fluent English. In Florida, All Voting is Local is fighting to remove those obstacles and achieve these goals: students and communities of color have more opportunities to vote early, in person; voters who speak Spanish, Haitian Creole, and other languages receive ballots, voting materials, and support in their native language as required by law; and all overs, no matter who they are or where they live, can vote without waiting in long lines at their polling places.