Florida ‘Wild Card’ law causing headaches for early voters, supervisors say

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — With Florida experiencing record early voting turnout amid a contentious 2024 election, election supervisors say a little-known state law is contributing to the pain felt by some at the polls.

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The “wild card” law, as it’s known, limits almost every early voting site in a county to a government-owned building, such as a library or a civic center.

Each county gets one exception – its wild card – so it can put an early voting site in a fast-growing area where the mandatory infrastructure isn’t present.

As Central Florida’s population has exploded, supervisors are caught balancing multiple communities that lack the traditional public buildings.

Orange County’s wild card site is in Horizon West. Supervisor Glen Gilzean’s staff said that’s what’s preventing their office from putting a second early voting site in Lake Nona, where multi-hour lines were a feature throughout early voting at its sole location.

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Gilzean’s office pointed the law out as the supervisor faces growing fury among county leaders and voters for spending $5 million on scholarships and grants to nonprofits instead of investing the money in preparations for the record-breaking turnout.

However a bipartisan cohort of supervisors not currently embroiled in controversy said the law is also limiting them.

Seminole County’s Chris Anderson said his 2024 wild card was the former Party City near Casselberry, which relieved his most crowded early voting location.

However, that means he cannot put an early voting site in Winter Springs, where the city hall is too small to host the needed equipment.

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He heaped praise on the bigger space as he called on lawmakers to loosen the law and allow multiple wild cards in each county.

“It was 10,000 square feet of space,” he said. “We were able to increase the amount of check ins. We were able to increase the amount of voter boost inside of there. We can handle a large contingency of voters just coming on to that site.”

Over in Lake County, Supervisor Alan Hays said his second wild card would be in the Leesburg or Fruitland Park area.

Anderson called adjusting the law a “no brainer” idea and said it should receive bipartisan support as Floridians continue to embrace early voting.

“I’m hoping the legislature takes this up this time around,” he said.

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