Florida election bill targets drop boxes again, brings back primary runoffs

The Republican-controlled Florida Legislature has unveiled another election bill that would further restrict where voters can drop off mail-in ballots and also force party primary candidates into runoffs if they don’t get more than 50% of the vote.

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State Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, called the continued attempt at culling drop boxes “unnecessary and politically motivated.”


“Republicans continue to feed into its rhetoric that elections are stolen and are not legitimate,” Eskamani said. “… When you limit the options for folks, it is intentionally designed to just make it harder to vote.”


But Eskamani said the other major proposal in the new bill, a return to primary runoffs for state and federal races, was “worthy of exploration,” even if she couldn’t support the overall bill.

Currently, party primaries are held the third week of August. Whoever gets the most votes in their respective primaries, even if just a plurality, face off in the November election.


The new bill would change the primary date to the third week of June. Any primary race in which the winner doesn’t receive more than 50% of the vote would move to a runoff between the top two candidates in August, with the winner of that primary securing his or her party’s nomination.

Despite the unneeded restrictions on the ballot drop boxes the changing of the primaries would be really good.