Sun Sentinel: “What a difference an election with long lines can make. Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, R-Miami, who sponsored the 2011 election law rewrite that scaled back the number of days for early voting, has authored a bill that would provide more early voting opportunities.”
The Senate sponsor of the bill that cut the number of early voting days in Florida from 14 to eight has filed a new proposal that would add back one day — the Sunday before Election Day – after criticism that eliminating that “Souls to the Polls” day was meant to reduce black turnout in the presidential election.
But some critics say nine days are not enough for large counties, including Palm Beach, where some voters waited in line for eight hours to cast ballots in 2012. And the latest proposal filed by Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, a Republican lawyer from Miami who was instrumental in shortening the number of early voting days in a 2011 election bill (HB 1355), is a departure from what the state’s supervisors of elections are seeking.