Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elecitons Craig Latimer is joining other local election officials who plan to ignore a new state directive that only allows absentee ballots to be collected at an elections office or branch.
Latimer says his county covers 1,000 square miles. So for voters who don't trust the mail - drop-off ballot boxes are available at more than a dozen library branches.Hillsborough's elections official says it's a matter of convenience for voters.
"You know if the Secretary of State spent as much time and energy in registering people to vote and getting out the vote as they have with a faulty purge, directives like this trying to change state law, putting together packages of law that no supervisor ever asked for - if they spent that much time and energy into getting people out to vote and registering people to vote this state would be a lot better off", Latimer said,
Latimer says his office has collected absentee ballots at satellite sites for years without any problems.
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson is accusing the governor and his appointed Florida Secretary of State of suppressing the vote just before a special election for Congressional District 13 in Pinellas County.