Former Republican Governor and current Democratic gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist plans to visit the University of Florida campus next Wednesday to criticize incumbent Republican Rick Scott over the state’s ruling that the J. Wayne Reitz Student Union does not meet the required criteria to be an early voting site and, more broadly, that early voting is not allowed on university campuses.
Crist’s camp sent out an announcement of his upcoming appearance Friday afternoon. It included this statement from Crist.
” This is an outrage. Let’s not let Rick Scott get away with this without a fight. Share this if you are with me and stay tuned on how we can protest this awful insult to every student and voter in the state. ”
After a request from a student group, the City Commission planned to add the Reitz as an early voting site for March’s city election, along with the traditional site at the Supervisor of Elections office in the County Administration Building downtown. Commissioners also added the Millhopper Branch Library in west Gainesville.
Last October, the City Attorney’s Office, unsure whether the Reitz met the state’s criteria as an early voting site, asked the Division of Elections for a legal opinion. In January, the state responded that it did not.
The Jan. 17 Division of Elections opinion noted that, prior to 2013, state law only allowed early voting at city halls or permanent public libraries. In 2013, the Legislature expanded the allowable sites to include fairgrounds, civic centers, courthouses, county commission buildings, stadiums, government-owned senior centers, convention centers, and government-owned community centers.
In that 2013 session, the Legislature rejected adding educational facilities as early voting sites, the opinion continued. The Reitz, the Division of Elections said, did not meet the criteria to a convention center or a government -owned community center, the Division of Elections said:
“The Reitz Union is a structure designed for, and affiliated with, a specific educational institution. It is a part of the University of Florida. The terms “convention center” and “government-owned community center” cannot be construed so broadly as to include the Reitz Union or any other college- or university-related facilities that were rejected by the Legislature as additional early voting sites.”
After that opinion came down from the state, the City Commission in January added only the Millhopper library branch to join the downtown Supervisor’s office as an early voting site. With early voting running from March 3-8, city officials believed ongoing construction at the Reitz would have prevented it from being used for early voting this election anyway, City Clerk Kurt Lannon wrote in a Jan. 13 email.
UF officials also offered a library as a possible location bu the City Attorney’s Office opined that it did not meet the state’s criteria. University officials now believe that any location on campus, including Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, is prohibited.
“UF is not opposed at all to hosting early voting but it is our understanding that we are precluded under state law from doing so,” Assistant Vice President for Media Relations Janine Sikes said.
The Reitz is an Election Day precinct for city and general elections. Turnout for city elections is typically sparse. For last March’s city elections, turnout was 6.73 percent. The turnout is much higher for the general election cycle, particularly in a presidential year, and the vote is strongly Democratic. In 2012, the turnout was more than 61 percent. Barack Obama received more than 66 percent of the votes cast.