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TAMPA, Fla. - Today, Committee on House Administration Subcommittee on Elections Chair Laurel Lee (FL-15) hosted a roundtable discussion on military voting at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida. This roundtable focused on the current state of voting access for military service members and their spouses and dependents. Roundtable attendees included Florida Supervisors of Elections, officials from MacDill, current and retired service members, and representatives from various service organizations.
"Our Committee, in cooperation with state and local election officials, is studying what reforms must still be implemented to ensure every eligible service member and military dependent voter is confident they will be able to receive and cast a ballot, and for that ballot to be received in time to count," said Chair Laurel Lee.
Top Takeaways:
- On military voting being nonpartisan: "Historically, military voting has been a nonpartisan issue and remains so today. We have a moral obligation to ensure that no eligible voter is denied or restricted in exercising their constitutional right while serving our nation in uniform, or as a family member of a service member. - Chair Laurel Lee
- On increasing military voter participation: "The more simple you can make it to vote, the more participation you’ll have.” - Col. Emmett Lamar Battles, USA (Ret)
- On tracking mail-in ballots: "As Supervisor Latimer just said... many of us also have some type of ballot tracking notification... you can sign up for that we'll send you text messages. So just like you know, your pizza will be there in five minutes, we can say the same thing." - Ron Turner, Sarasota County, FL Supervisor of Elections
- On accessing ballots via email: "There's always going to be accessibility to email unless there's a casualty, then email is shut down for the entire installation... until the family is notified." - Sunshine Buskirk, Senior Legislative Aide & District Director, State Sen. Jay Collins
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