The state of Florida sent thousands of invitations to register on the voter register to people already registered and who, for professional reasons, asked not to appear in public records, amid a contest that is strained by November 3 in a state that could be decisive.
Voters who claim a special exemption from public records due to the “delicate, confidential, or dangerous” nature of their work received postcards from the State Department’s Elections Division, which wrongly tells them they may not be registered, the Tallahassee Democrat newspaper revealed this Tuesday.
Less than three weeks before the October 5 enrollment deadline for the November general election, the state sent the card as part of a requirement to join the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), a consortium of 30 states in the country and the District of Columbia, the rotary indicated.
The Florida Elections Division used ERIC data to identify more than 2 million potentially eligible but unregistered voters
Without filtering thousands of registered voters whose personal information is protected.
Florida‘s law allows individuals working in certain government positions, classified within a “high-risk professional class,” in addition to their spouses and family members, to request that their personal information be protected. It includes police personnel and federal, state and county judges, as well as firefighters, paramedics and members of the Army, among many other officials’ posts.
In Leon County alone, where the state capital, Tallahassee, is located, and where many of the judicial and government staff reside, some 22,000 invitation postcards were sent.
The postcard says, in English and Spanish, that records show that recipients are eligible but not registered to vote, so they are urged to do so online.
As of last July, it had registered 13.9 million voters in Florida, 5.1 million of them Democrats, 4.9 million Republicans and 3.9 independents, according to the Florida Election Division, which contributes 29 of the 538 votes of the Electoral College that elects the president.
Democrat Joe Biden outpertches President Donald Trump of the Republican Party by an average of 6.5 points in national opinion polls, according to the specialized portal Real Clear Politics, but in Florida that distance is only 1.6 points in favor of the former vice president.
