WUFT News News and Public Media for North Central Florida from the University of Florida in Gainesville
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida will move ahead with online voter registration despite Gov. Rick Scott saying he is worried about putting it in place.
Scott signed a bill Friday that mandates online registration in October 2017. The Republican governor signed the bill even though the state’s top election official criticized it.
Scott in a letter said that he was signing the bill (SB 228) with “hesitation.”
He said he is concerned about whether the state could put the system in place while also replacing the existing statewide voter database. Scott also said he was worried about potential cyber-attacks.
The online voter registration bill was overwhelmingly supported by both Republican and Democratic legislators. Florida’s county election supervisors also backed the bill. They are responsible for voter registration.
