Senate Elections Committee Plans Field Trip to Elections Center

The Florida Senate Committee on Ethics and Elections will take a trip from the Capitol to the Leon County supervisor of elections' operations center in Tallahassee on Tuesday morning.

Committee Chairman Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, called for the onsite visit to an elections center so committee members could receive demonstrations on the process in which both in-person and mailed absentee ballots, early voting ballots, provisional ballots and Election Day ballots are handled.

In an attempt to avoid a repeat of problems that cropped up during the 2012 election, the committee is reviewing proposals to give supervisors the flexibility to extend early voting up to 14 days from the eight-day limit imposed in 2011 and to expand early voting locations to also use fairgrounds, stadiums, convention centers, county government facilities and civic centers.