Florida State Association of Supervisors of Elections (FSASE) lashed out at Gov. Rick Scott for what has been described as an “inappropriate measure” used to rate the performance of Supervisors of Elections throughout the state.
After the 2012 Presidential Preference Primary, election supervisors across the state were “scored” by the Department of State based on responses to a survey conducted by the Division of Elections.
But, Supervisors of Elections are crying foul because they say, they didn’t know the purpose of the survey and in any event, the handful of criteria used to rank them is “flawed in certain instances, thereby yielding a result which is inaccurate and could undermine voter confidence this election year.”
President of FSASE, David Stafford, in a letter to Scott Wednesday, asked that the survey results not be published, this following repeated requests for a meeting.
“…On behalf of the Supervisors of Elections throughout the state, I ask that you or your staff meet with us to hear our valid concerns directly,” Stafford wrote. “In the meantime, we ask that you direct the Division of Elections to not publish the flawed report until such time as these serious concerns can be addressed.”
The limited criteria used to score supervisors include: timing of first upload of election night results; timing of mailing of absentee ballots; dates voter files have been updated and timing of the announcement of early voting locations. Most absurdly, extra credit was given to those supervisors who returned the survey early.
Scores for Supervisors ranged from 7, the top score to -4, at the bottom. Orange County Supervisor of Elections, Bill Cowles was scored a 7, along with 12 other counties including, Flager, Clay, Osceola and Hardee.
Counties scoring poorly included, Palm Beach, Brevard and Seminole County all of which scored -4.
House Democratic Policy Chair Rick Kriseman (D-Petersburg) who also blasted Scott pointed out that, while there may be good reasons to assess the performance of supervisors, it’s being approached in a seriously flawed manner.
“Governor Scott still hasn’t figured out that there are limits to his authority,” said Kriseman in a statement. “Florida’s elections supervisors deserve support from statewide officers and they shouldn’t have to succumb to meddling by the governor. I am quite confident that county elections supervisors are willing to participating in meaningful surveys, but I am sure they are opposed to the governor meddling in and undermining both their work and the confidence of voters.”
The SOEs don’t report to the Governor, they are elected by the voters of that county. I guess next, he will be scoring the performance of our elected legislators.