Florida Republicans have changed the rules on mail-in voting to make it harder, so you need to request your ballots all over again

News and views for thoughtful Floridians

Florida’s Republicans have figured out a brilliant way to eliminate voter fraud.

Of course, this is a solution to a nonexistent problem, as study after study and audit after audit have proven that incidences of fraudulent voting are so few as to have virtually no bearing on election outcomes.

Studies, schmudies, trumpet the elephants. The elephant-in-chief, Donald J. Trump, is still whining about losing his first re-election bid and continues to bleat about the election being stolen — never mind that dozens of judges, many of whom he appointed himself, ruled that he’s full of it.

Some people just can’t look in the mirror and admit that you can’t win them all. So, they make excuses. And storm the Capitol in a fit of temper.

And Trump’s junior minions here in Florida—we’re talking about Gov. Ron DeSantis and his compliant lickspittles in the state legislature—were all too happy to jump on the voter-fraud circus wagon after poor Donald’s upsetting experience.

Unfortunately for them, they couldn’t eliminate elections entirely, but what they could do was throw as many roadblocks into the path to the polls as possible.

One such incumbrance is a change in Florida’s voting laws that makes voting by mail more of a hassle than it needs be.

Under the new rules, signed into law by DeSantis, voters must submit a mail-in-voting ballot request for each general election cycle.

Meaning, among other things, that just because you voted by mail in the last presidential election, and just because your local supervisor of elections knows perfectly well you did and that you prefer voting that way, and even though the elections staff has all your information on file, you can’t vote again by mail unless you jump through some additional hoops.

The thing that’s so stupid about this, of course, is that you’ve already been vetted if you voted in the last election, so this is just a waste of time.

Well, not entirely.

It’s discouraging, too, which is the point.

The fewer people who vote, the less fraud. Right?

Oh, but the fact that Democrats tend to vote early, and that Democrats seem to like mail-in ballots more than Republicans, well, that has nothing to do with it.

Of course not.

So, what’s a responsible citizen to do if, say, you think it might be a swell idea to vote next year and—I don’t know—maybe sweep the Republicans out of the U.S. House of Representatives since they seem to be on a permanent vacation and haven’t shown up for work for so long they’ve probably forgotten where their offices are?

(In all fairness, they are located in very big buildings. I used to work in one of them—the Longworth Building—and it’s easy to get turned around if you’ve been away for a bit.)

So, how do you apply for those mail-in ballots?

Well, if you navigate to the website of the Florida Department of State, you’ll discover helpful instructions for how to get your mail-in ballots for the 2024 elections.

You didn’t read that wrong. Here’s the screenshot. As you can see, they haven’t updated the site in over a year. Guess they’re too busy fighting voter fraud on other fronts. Or something.

So, what about voting in 2026? You know, the next general election?

Here’s what the website, last updated more than a year ago, has to offer:

At least they’re not asking you to take a DNA test.

Yet.

Here’s the good news: You can apply to receive a mail-in ballot at any time. It’s not necessary to wait until all the candidates have declared or that the actual ballots are finalized.

So, go ahead and do it now if that’s how you prefer to vote.

Best advice is to contact your local Supervisor of Election Office to make that happen. Here’s a link to every office in every Florida county. Every website is different. But you should find a link to order your mail-in ballot. Or, failing that, a phone number to call.

A footnote to all this: The Florida Legislature will reconvene in January, and I suppose it is not out of the question that they may find new and more troublesome ways to suppress the vote. So, stay vigilant.

(And a special thank you to loyal reader Beth Eschenfelder for suggesting this as a column topic. And for gently reminding me not to forget it.)

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Florida factual

As of September 2025, Florida has approximately 13.5 million total registered voters. The Republican Party holds a significant lead over the Democratic Party.

The breakdown of voters by party is approximately as follows:

• Republican Party of Florida: 41% of registered voters. This represents a lead of approximately 1.353 million voters over the Democrats.

• Florida Democratic Party: 31% of registered voters.

• No Party Affiliation (NPA) and third parties: The remaining 28% of voters are either NPA or registered with a minor party. This group has been growing and neither major party now holds a majority of the state’s total electorate.

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Thought for the day

“If American women would increase their voting turnout by ten percent, I think we would see an end to all of the budget cuts in programs benefiting women and children.”
— Coretta Scott King

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Today is…

National Immigrants Day. Immigrants built this country. And all of the original settlers who arrived on these shores did so without passports, nor did they have to hide from ICE goons. Just saying.

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J.C. Bruce, journalist and author, is the founder of Tropic Press. He holds dual citizenship in the United States of America and his native Florida. When he’s not blogging, he’s in training for the Florida Man Underwater Ping Pong Championships. Forward this email to your friends. They will love you for it.

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