(Photo by Issac Morgan/Florida Phoenix)
A group of Central Florida Democrats asked Orange County Supervisor of Elections Glen Gilzean Friday to add “substantial additional support” at six early voting sites in the county — including one on the campus of the University of Central Florida — to address long lines.
“All of these sites have seen longer than 2-hour wait times in the middle of the week; the lines during the last weekend of Early Voting will undoubtedly be much longer,” the Democrats, including U.S. Reps. Maxwell Frost and Darren Soto, say in a letter.
“We are asking you to immediately take all available actions within your power to ease the strain on all voters; precinct-specific check-in machines can and should be deployed to polling rooms; and Election Day poll workers can gain valuable experience by reporting to Early Voting sites in the final days of Early Voting.
“This includes ensuring that each of the above locations has the maximum number of check-in machines, voting booths, and poll workers to efficiently administer the election,” adds the letter, signed by 13 Central Florida Democratic public officials.
“The UCF location, in particular, experiences frequent and prolonged bottlenecks, given the need for students and first-time voters to update their addresses. Poll workers should be deployed and check-in should be improved to help students in line vote.”
Gilzean is aware of the long lines. Last Friday, he held a press conference to announce that his office had launched an interactive map that gives wait times at the 22 early voting locations in the county. And his office has added three new “overflow” voting sites to handle the added demand.
But the lawmakers say more is required.
“We appreciate your addition of Early Voting locations to act as overflow sites for some existing locations, but the inaccessibility of these sites to minority groups and less affluent voters is a serious concern,” they write.
‘Incredibly long’
Orlando House Democrat Anna Eskamani went to social media to make the lawmakers’ demands known.
“The lines at several Early Voting locations have been incredibly long, but it’s not necessarily due to increased turnout. UCF for example has wait lines up to four hours right now with empty voting booths inside,” she wrote on X on Friday. She added in a phone conversation with the Phoenix that “there’s not that many students here who are able to vote.”
“There’s only been 400 students who have been able to vote today and they’re waiting four hours in line,” she said. “It’s not an influx of students who are voting, it’s that my understanding is they only have two check-in clerks, so there is just not enough infrastructure to support a basic turnout.”
Christopher Heath, the Orange County supervisor of elections public information officer, said he had been in “constant contact” with Eskamani since early voting began last week to get the word out to UCF students that many of them aren’t registered to vote in the county.
“They may be registered somewhere else in the state, so when they show up to vote their having to stop and take about 5-10 minutes to update their registration, which obviously adds to the time it takes to move the line along because now you’re tying up a clerk with a registration update,” he said.
Long ballot
Heath added that the length of the ballot in Orange County is adding to wait times. The ballot includes charter amendments and a school tax referendum in addition to all of the choices for federal, local, and state office.
“It is a lengthy two-page front and back ballot,” he said. “It’s just taking time for voters to complete it but we’re doing everything within our power to ensure anyone who wants to vote has the opportunity.”
Eskamani said that local officials have been asking for changes at the six specific polling locations but that the elections office is “unwilling to adjust.”
“This has been going on for three days, so the letter is the last straw for us,” she said. “We’ve been having good faith negotiations over the past three days on this, with just no changes.”
Gilzean was appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis to serve as supervisor of elections in March to fill the vacancy left by former Supervisor of Elections Bill Cowles, who retired in January. He is not running for re-election this month.