Notify elections office if you move
As a result of redistricting, my office was statutorily required to mail new voter information cards to all registered voters. Of the more than 300,000 voter information cards mailed, nearly 10,000 were returned by the U.S. Post Office as "undeliverable." Additionally, I received many phone calls and emails complaining about cards received for voters who no longer reside at that address, including several reports of voters who no longer live in the state of Florida.
These results were achieved with due diligence to the statutorily prescribed list maintenance. In spite of the best intentions of the law, the procedure often falls short of the desired results. Protocol requires reliance upon information which is voter generated, e.g. change of address information supplied by the United States Postal Service, jury notices, and the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. As a result, the process is only able to identify those who have reported an address change to these entities, thus leaving the voter registration rolls with thousands of voters still "missing in action."
The short explanation for this, simply, is that people move. As simple as the explanation may seem, it is not intended to excuse the voters who have moved, nor to minimize the complaints of those receiving cards and election materials for others.
If we are looking to place blame, it is voters who create this problem when they fail to report address changes to my office, or to notify us when leaving the state.
Voters who move have an obligation to insure their registration is maintained. Ideally and in a perfect world, if every voter who moved or left the state would notify my office, or at a minimum notify the United States Postal Service, there would be no undeliverable or unsolicited mail being sent from my office.
In reality, however, when none of these events occur, there is no way of knowing a voter has moved. We are then statutorily required to retain voter registrations for these voters through a series of undeliverable mail, and a resultant inactive status through a period of two general election cycles.
Avoidable negligence on the part of inactive voters bloats the registration numbers and artificially reflects lower voter turnout than we actually experience. Too, it can potentially affect the integrity of the elections process by creating a chance that someone can be registered in more than one location. People move and it's imperative they notify the supervisor of elections. We are a phone call away at 800-851-8754 or a click away at www.pascovotes.com. My staff and I stand ready to help.
Brian Corley
Supervisor of Elections, New Port Richey
Son in a bind after cellphone stolen
Thanks for the memories. Someone stole my son's cell phone from Sam's Club. He is leaving for the University of Notre Dame this week and this is somewhat of hardship for him as we are not wealthy.
Too bad for the misguided soul because the phone was protected and he or she will never be able to use it.
I hope the police are able to view the cameras and find out who the thief is. I don't want the person arrested but I do want him or her to do community hours comparable to the cost of the phone.
Deborah Ann Norman Robinson, Hudson
Privatize for public savings? Aug. 12 article
Privatizing is the better course
Your question and the article focused on schools. But the county and cities should privatize anything that can be done cheaper and better with contractors, assuming proper oversight.
Everything should be on the table.
Ernest Lane, Trinity
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