INDICTING HIMSELF:

Tampa Bay area supervisors of elections say the Florida Department of State informs them of voter eligibility, pushing back on recent comments from Gov. Ron DeSantis since he announced 20 arrests for voter fraud in the 2020 election by his new Office of Election Crimes and Security.

Meanwhile, several ex-felons arrested for voter fraud in Hillsborough County say they thought they were eligible to vote because they'd received voter registration cards or had been told they were eligible.

In a press conference on Tuesday, Gov. DeSantis said the responsibility for determining eligibility rests at the county level.

"They're the ones that are registering people," DeSantis said. "You go in your county and you register locally. You're not registering in Tallahassee at the state government. And so it's really their responsibility to ensure that their voting rolls are accurate."

But elections supervisors take issue with several parts of the governor's assertion.

Information voters enter when they register online in Florida "goes into the Florida voter registration system, maintained by the state," according to the Pinellas County elections office. "The information is then pushed to counties via the 'suspense queue' to the counties."

Additionally, while supervisors agree they are ultimately responsible for removing ineligible voters from the rolls, that information comes to them from the state, describing a process that is well-understood among elections supervisors and their staff and has been for years.

"No, it's not very confusing, it's pretty clear," said Lori Edwards, the Polk County supervisor of elections, when asked who is responsible for determining eligibility. "It's the state, and that's per Florida statute. Florida statute says the Florida Department of State Division of Elections is responsible for identifying that information, compiling the background information and supplying the county supervisor of elections with it."

Other Tampa Bay area elections supervisors pointed to Florida statutes as well, specifically F.S. 98.075, which begins by stating, "the department shall protect the integrity of the electoral process by ensuring the maintenance of accurate and current voter registration records." 

Tweet   @brothersjudd