By FRANCIS FEDOR
On Feb. 15, the Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections (SOE) hosted the Hillsborough County Canvassing Board Meeting for the purpose of establishing the guidelines and policies for the Hillsborough County Canvassing (Board) for the 2024 Presidential Preference Primary. The meeting also served as a forum for the Public Logic and Accuracy Test that is conducted prior to the start of the each election to allow for the public, interested parties and the press to see the processes and procedures that the SOE will be using in conducting the upcoming election.
One piece of the voting equipment on display for the meeting
The meeting established the guidelines and policies through a standard ratification process, working one by one through the various tabs in binders presented to the canvasing board membership that will be involved in overseeing the election. The documentation discussed at the meeting is available for review at https://www.votehillsborough.gov/MEDIA/Public-Notices/. The meeting opened with a public comment opportunity for the interested parties to address the canvassing board membership with concerns or questions. The only individual to offer any concern was Chris Gleason (Artificial Intelligence architect and Technology Data expert), and Mr. Gleason voiced concerns over “blank ballots” and how they were dealt with to ensure that the voters were not disenfranchised. The SOE, Craig Latimer, offered that the blanks were adjudicated and validated. He described a “blank ballot” as a ballot that was not filled in at all and ended up in the system. Mr. Gleason also voiced a concern over a “request for information” that was heavily redacted, to which the SOE offered that the attorneys were well versed in what needed to be redacted and complied with those requirements. SOE Craig Latimer will be up for reelection in the fall and has at least one challenger announced so far, Billy Christensen, for the SOE roll in that election.
Additional staff run ballots through the system to come up with tabulations for the Logic and Accuracy Test.
The meeting then moved to discussions around the testing of voting systems, canvassing of vote by mail (VBM) ballots, canvassing provisional ballots, the “curing” of affidavits for VBM and provisional ballots. Other topics in the binders included Inspection, Examination, Review and Observation Guidelines and Protocols, Voter Intent, Duplication, Recounts, Post-Election Audit and Security Procedures. All of the items on the agenda were briefly described and voted on for adoption by the canvasing board membership. One was left with a “take our word for it” feeling on the details that are clearly more detailed as a part of the binders that were handed out to the canvasing board membership and can be reviewed by the public using the website link offered earlier in this article.
The interested parties and press were then offered demos of the various election equipment and a mock Logic and Validation test. The bay where the event was hosted had various areas where those in attendance could watch SOE staff push mock ballots through the machinery and see the screens that a voter would be presented with. The event concluded with the tallies of the ballots and how they matched up against the expected results based on the mock ballots. As this was a mock exercise and the attendees were merely observers of the exercise, it was again, mostly a trust exercise.
The SOE’s office was the subject of a data breach in June of 2023. The breach was reported by numerous local news outlets, and it appears that at one time the SOE had a press release on the website, but that link no longer works. More information on the breach can be found in this article: https://baynews9.com/fl/tampa/news/2023/06/01/data-breach-may-impact-58-000-hillsborough-voters/. Those who were subjected to their data being breached were notified by the SOE of the breach.
Francis Fedor Photos
Hillsborough Secretary of Elections (SOE) Craig Latimer heads up the canvassing board meeting where those present discussed the procedures and policies, along with a Public Logic and Accuracy Test of the voting equipment.
And as we head into the election season, voters will have the choice to vote-by-mail (VBM), early voting in-person or day-of-election voting. If you receive a ballot in the mail but wish to vote in person, I personally recommend that you carry the vote by mail ballot with you to your voting location, and if you were to find that you had already voted, you can call the sheriff and file an identity theft report. More information on VBM and other ways to vote can be found on votehillsborough.gov/. Early voting for the 2024 Presidential Preference Primary begins on March 4 and runs through March 17. Election day is March 19. You must be a registered as a Republican to participate in the Republican Presidential Preference Primary.
Since President Joseph Biden is the only Democratic candidate running for President in Florida, Florida has no Democratic Presidential Preference Primary this year.