Seminole Supervisor: Reconsider 100-Foot Campaign Zone at Voting Sites

Seminole County Supervisor of Elections Mike Ertel says the state should reconsider its 100 feet limit on where candidates and supporters can stand outside polling locations when lines of voters occur outside precincts and early voting locations.

Appearing before the Senate Ethics and Elections Committee, Ertel joined other supervisors in urging the legislators to provide more flexibility on where and the number of days early voting could be held and to limit the number of words they can use for their own constitutional amendments.

While the recommendations are intended to hopefully limit the long lines that were widely reported throughout the state in the 2012 general election, Ertel noted that when lines do occur they have exceeded the 100-foot limit.

If the line extends beyond 100 feet, we have candidates, campaigns standing right at the 100-foot zone just handing people information, Ertel said.

Elections take a lot of time. The 2016 election is already taking place. People are already starting to campaign for it. At some point the election has to end and I think it should be once the voter gets in line in order to cast their ballot.