DeLand, FL - The 2020 election season gets underway just three months from today, on March 17. Citizen Initiatives trying to qualify for the November 2020 ballot have even less time than that, with a deadline of February 1. Lisa Lewis, Volusia County Supervisor of Elections said that as of last Friday, December 13, three statewide ballot measures have been certified for the ballot.
Amendment 1 specifies that only U.S. citizens can vote in federal, state, local, or school elections.
Amendment 2 would increase the minimum wage to $15 by 2026.
Amendment 3 establishes a top-two open primary system for state office primary elections.
Lewis said that there are about ten-thousand signatures to be validated for a number of different petitions in the Elections Office right now. There are a few other petitions still collecting signatures. You can see all of the petitions in circulation by visiting the Florida Division of Elections website.
Several states, including South Carolina, Nevada, Arizona, and Kansas, are not holding Republican primaries in 2020. Lewis said Florida will be having one with incumbent President Donald J. Trump, former Representative from Illinois, Joe Walsh, former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld, and Roque DeLa Fuente, who previously ran as the Reform Party candidate in 2016.
The State of Florida's application for membership in a program that allows the exchange of voter-related data with other states received approval last week. Lewis said the database, known as the Electronic Registration Information Center of ERIC, gives elections office personnel the ability to see if a newly registered voter is also actively registered in any of the states that are part of the program. She said only about 30 states are part of the program. Florida will not be part of the program until the $75,000 to cover the state's annual dues in the program are approved. Governor Ron DeSantis' proposed $91.4 billion budget does include that amount for the 2020-2021 fiscal year budget.
Lewis also has a heads-up for people new to the area or anyone who will turn 18 before the Presidential Preference Primary. The deadline to register in the election is February 18. Early Voting is scheduled for March 7 through March 14. If you need to change your address, important so that you vote at the right polling place, or make any other changes to your voter's registration, please click here.
