By St. Johns County Supervisor of Elections Vicky Oakes
I fully support the following message to the voters of Florida, recently released by our Florida Supervisors of Elections Association. Should you have any questions or concerns about how elections are conducted in St. Johns County, please reach out to us directly to get the facts. You might be surprised to learn about processes we already have in place to secure your vote!
Florida Supervisors of Elections Message to Voters on Election Integrity
The strength of our nation rests on the ability that “We the People” have a voice in its governance and are confident in the integrity of our elections. In this hour, public trust in our elections is being systematically undermined, to the detriment of all Americans. During and after the 2020 Presidential Election, the integrity of our democracy has been challenged by misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation that sows discord and undermines trust in America’s electoral process.
As your Supervisors of Elections, and citizens of our own communities, we have dedicated our public service to the impartial administration of Florida’s election laws and conducting fair, honest, and accurate elections. Those laws make it easy to vote and hard to cheat. Florida voters can be confident in the professionals they elected to administer our elections, and the protections that ensure every ballot is counted accurately and only eligible Floridians are on the voter rolls.
Florida law requires that all voting in Florida is done using paper ballots. Those ballots can only be counted using certified machines that have been publicly tested before and after each election. And after every election, we always conduct a public audit to verify that the results are accurate.
Officials throughout Florida are confident in the integrity of our system. Governor Ron DeSantis recently stated that “What we do in Florida is, there’s a pre- and post-election audit that happens automatically. So, that has happened. It passed with flying colors in terms of how that’s going.”
Similarly, Secretary of State Laurel Lee, Florida’s Chief Election Officer said “We have already completed an audit of all 67 counties. And that audit demonstrated an exceedingly high level of election integrity and, again, demonstrated that our results were accurate, reliable.”
In the Gettysburg Address, President Lincoln proclaimed that the American people must dedicate themselves to ensuring that “Government of the people, by the people, for the people must not perish from the Earth.” It is through elections that government by the people is accomplished. In this spirit, we call on our fellow voters to dedicate themselves to learning about the many safeguards already in place that guarantee the accuracy of Florida’s elections.
We encourage you to get the facts from the trusted election experts in Florida. Contact your local Supervisor of Elections or visit their website to learn more about how elections are administered and the security measures in place that protect our votes.
[Editor’s Note: Visit www.votesjc.com for more information about elections in St. Johns County.]
