This week, the Supervisor of Elections Office sent postcards to hundreds of thousands of voters in Seminole County, irrespective of their political affiliation, asking them to confirm their addresses, sign their names, and return a section of the card by mail.
The blue-typed cards were distributed to all 350,697 Seminole State voters who were registered to vote: We are sending you this card to make sure your name and address are accurate in our systems.
The text that follows is bolded and underlined: Kindly reply within 30 days.
Seminole Supervisor Amy Pennock stated that although voters are not obligated to return the forms, it is encouraged, despite what seemed to be a warning and a strict deadline.
She stated that their eligibility to vote would not be impacted and that there would be no consequences if they did not reply.
According to Pennock, the cards are intended to adhere to a 2024 state rule that requires every county to update its list of registered voters on a regular basis and ensure that postal addresses are accurate.
When a voter shows up to vote and is at the incorrect polling place, there may be problems if we have the incorrect information in our system and they don’t amend it, Pennock stated Thursday. Alternatively, a ballot sent by mail may end up at the wrong address.
Since most voters do not tell her office when they move or change their names, Pennock said that in order to generate a feeling of urgency and motivate action, voters were urged to answer within 30 days.
According to her, maintaining up-to-date voter data is crucial to conducting safe and orderly elections. It promotes process trust, avoids misunderstandings, and cuts down on delays.
Voters can also check or update their address online at voteseminole.gov if they don’t want to pay 78 cents for a stamp and travel to the post office, Pennock added.
However, at a time when many Americans are wary of elections following President Donald Trump’s unfounded allegations that the 2020 presidential election was rigged, the 11-by-6-inch white postcards unnerved a few Seminole voters.
After receiving the postcard on Thursday, Larry Furlong, a longtime Seminole resident and former county commissioner, said, “It definitely makes you feel like you won’t be able to vote if you don’t do anything.” That card ought to have made it very apparent that it is not necessary, and it is not.
In a Friday email to the Orlando Sentinel, another Seminole woman expressed her confusion at receiving an odd card from the Elections Office requesting that she verify her address.
She wrote, “I have lived here for more than ten years and have never received anything like it.” Every time, I cast my ballot. It should be obvious that I am currently registered to vote. What happens if the card is not returned is not stated on it.
According to office spokesman Blake Summerlin, similar address confirmation requests will be sent to all 820,530 registered voters in Orange County by early September.
To further complicate matters, this spring mailings asking for a similar address confirmation were only delivered to registered voters in Lake and Osceola counties who had not cast a ballot in 2022 and 2024.
However, those voters were added to an inactive voter list after failing to reply to those requests.
By contacting all voters, as Seminole is doing, or only those who haven’t cast a ballot in the previous two elections, county elections officials are required by Florida law to update the data on their voter rolls on a regular basis.
“We stop sending you mail when you are deemed an inactive voter,” stated Kari Ewalt, director of administrative services for the Supervisor of Elections Office in Osceola. Voting is still an option, though. Everything that an engaged voter can do is still available to you.
About 28,000 of the 221,390 registered voters were transferred to the inactive list by the Osceola Supervisor of Elections Office this year.
Alan Hays, Lake’s supervisor of elections, stated that all it takes to reclaim active voter status is to give us a call or come to the polls. Approximately 19,000 inactive registered voters received notices from his office.
However, an inactive voter is removed from the voter records after four years of not voting or contacting the elections office, according to Hays.
