Washington, DC – Today, Representative Lois Frankel’s (FL-21) measure to make voting easier and improve ballot design passed the House of Representatives as part of major legislation, H.R. 1, the For The People Act, which ends the dominance of big money in our political system, improves access to the ballot, and tightens conflict of interest laws.

“Voting is the foundation of our democracy, and if there’s ever a state where that’s threatened - it’s Florida,” said Rep. Frankel. “Democrats are fighting to make sure every vote counts and none get left behind due to bad design, voter suppression, or security breaches.”

Rep. Frankel’s amendment included in the bill clarifies that grants given to states to strengthen their election systems may be used to implement and model best practices for ballot design, instructions, and testing. These funds will also be used to may be used for new paper ballot voting machines and cybersecurity enhancements.

Historically, Florida has been plagued with a variety of issues at the voting booth, including outdated voting equipment, registration errors, voter suppression, and security issues. In 2000, poorly designed butterfly ballots confused voters in Palm Beach County, with many elderly citizens who thought they were voting for Al Gore actually voting for Pat Buchanan in a presidential election that was decided by just 500+ votes. During the 2018 midterm election, more than 30,000 Broward County voters did not make a choice in the U.S. Senate race and experts believe this was caused by poor ballot design. The amendment that Rep Frankel championed in today’s legislation would help fix this problem for future elections.

After adoption by the House, the bill moves to the Senate for consideration. Rep. Frankel plans to continue pursuing solutions to these issues through all possible avenues.

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