Greg Everett found it inconvenient that his new Broward voter registration card is breaking tradition: The cards have been supersized — large enough that they no longer fit in wallets.
Everett, of Fort Lauderdale, worried the cards’ new size is a hindrance: If voters stop storing their cards in their wallets or purses, no longer within reach will be all the handy election information they provide.
For the longest time, “voter registration cards have been the same size as a driver’s license or any other ID card or a credit card for that matter,” Everett wrote in a complaint to elections supervisor Joe Scott, the Democrat who won election in 2020.
The Broward Supervisor of Elections office has started mailing new cards on a document larger than a traditional postcard. Because the key information is not perforated, it’s intended for voters to file away in personal papers at home, and not carry to the polls or around town.
The new cards, which were being mailed out by this week, were changed in size on purpose: The old size was “deceiving,” because people thought they needed the card to vote, elections spokesman Ivan Castro said. The size gave the message, “‘Don’t forget to bring it with you,’ which is not the case,” Castro said.
The cards are now larger “so people don’t think they need it to vote.”
To cast ballots, voters only need a picture ID that has a signature. This can include a driver’s license, passport, student ID, military card or concealed weapons permit.
And all the voter information on it can be found online at the elections office website anyway.
If voters don’t have Internet access, they can call or email, Castro said. “The voter does have certain responsibilities to educate themselves,” Castro said.
All of Broward’s 1.2 million registered voters will be getting the new cards and the last batch was being mailed Friday.
The cards provide voters’ personal information and voter precinct details, and identification numbers for everything from City Hall, School Board and County Commission districts up to Congress.
Aubrey Jewett, a professor of political science at the University of Central Florida, is concerned that Broward could unintentionally be putting voters off.
“I suspect there will be some voters who do not find it helpful,” Jewett said. “They like the convenience of carrying it around in a wallet or purse and I can relate to that because I carry mine in my wallet.
“To them, it’s a valuable card.”
“Any time we seem to have change, it results in something you don’t anticipate,” he said. Although Broward surely has “the best of intentions, I’m not sure why reinvent the wheel. … Hopefully it won’t have a negative impact other than some people just don’t like change.”
Broward may be the only county — if not one of the very few in Florida — to make the cards larger. Ron Labasky, the attorney for the Florida State Association of Supervisors of Elections committee in Tallahassee, said Thursday he hasn’t heard of any other counties making their cards bigger.
“Historically, it has always been that size, but there’s been a misconception it was good for all kinds of identification” that extended beyond voting, such as trying to use it instead of a passport, he said. That misconception has been around 40 years in Florida, he said.
Other elections offices in South Florida don’t plan to change the cards. Miami-Dade County elections officials said Wednesday they are keeping tradition of wallet-sized cards.
“We chose to stay with that design because our voters are accustomed to the look and layout of our voter information cards,” said Robert Rodriguez, assistant deputy elections supervisor.
In Palm Beach County, the wallet-sized cards will remain, too. “I feel like it’s easier and convenient,” said elections spokeswoman Alison Novoa of the voters. “They like to keep in their wallet. A lot of voters just feel better, they feel prepared having it with them. I keep mine in my wallet.”
“They want that card.”
Everett, the Broward voter who sent off an email to the elections office, isn’t taking any chances. He thinks that the new cards could have the opposite effect, discouraging older voters who want the ease of a paper copy.
So he took matters into his own hands and cut down the new card so it still fits in his wallet.
“I like to know I’m registered to vote,” he said.
Lisa J. Huriash can be reached at lhuriash@sunsentinel.com or 954-572-2008. Follow on Twitter @LisaHuriash
