By Mitch Perry, Florida Phoenix
Florida election officials and voting rights advocates want to let people know that renewing or replacing your state driver’s license or state ID in the past year could affect your ability to vote by mail or have your signature on a petition ballot count.
The policy change started more than a year ago. Beginning on July 31, 2024, the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles began implementing legislation that requires the distinguishing numbers assigned to a driver’s license or identification card to include at least four randomly generated numbers. The agency says the change was made “to improve security and safeguard individuals’ identities.”
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That change means that when voters go online to apply for a vote-by-mail ballot, they could encounter error messages if their driver’s license information is out of sync with the information they supplied when registering to vote.
“The main problem is that information isn’t being forwarded to the supervisor of elections or local elected officials, and that becomes an issue mainly for vote-by-mail voters and those signing petitions, because more recent laws have made strict requirements for ID numbers,” said Brad Ashwell, Florida director for All Voting Is Local.
While officials want to get this information out to voters now, well in advance of the next elections, this issue can potentially affect voters in Tampa who are applying for vote-by-mail ballots right now. The city is conducting a special election for a city council seat on Sept. 9.
“If a voter has a new DL number and has not updated their voter registration information with that new number, and then they try to use the new DL number to verify an online mail ballot request, the online form will not be able to match those numbers,” said Gerri Kramer, chief communications officer with the Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections.
Kramer adds that her office has not received any complaints so far from voters experiencing this problem, although requests to obtain mail ballots for domestic voters only began earlier this week. She added that voters can also verify their online requests with the last four digits of their Social Security numbers if they have that on file from a voter registration application.
“The main thing that the voters need to know is if they have renewed or replaced their driver’s license in the last year, they need to call their supervisors and update their registration,” Ashwell said.
Update records
Gretl Plessinger of the Florida Department of State said that her agency encourages voters to keep their information up to date, “but an old driver’s license number should not prohibit a person from voting either by mail or in person with a driver’s license that is not expired.”
She added that if the latest Florida driver’s license/state ID number is not in the voter’s record, the supervisor “must update the voter’s record with the number that the voter provided. Once that number is verified, and all other required information is submitted, the voter may obtain a ballot to vote.”
The problem also pertains to registered voters who sign ballot initiative petitions. The measure passed by the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. DeSantis earlier this year (SB 1205) now requires that those signing such petitions must provide their Florida driver’s license number, Florida identification card number, or the last four numbers of their Social Security numbers.
The legislation requiring that applicants for new or renewed driver’s licenses or ID cards be passed in 2022. The provision regarding the “distinguishing number” assigned to an original, renewal, or replacement ID card was scheduled to begin on Nov. 1, 2023. However, the Department of Motor Vehicles and the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles did not begin to implement the law until the end of July 2024.
