It wasn’t that long ago that “Florida” was shorthand for electoral chaos — hanging chads, recounts, and lawsuits that stretched on for weeks. But two decades later, the state that once defined dysfunction has done something few expected: it built one of the nation’s most trusted, transparent, and efficient election systems.
In the latest episode of Breaking Battlegrounds, host Sam Stone and guest host Seth Leibson are joined by Bob McClure, President and CEO of the James Madison Institute, to take listeners beneath the surface of Florida’s system — from how signatures are verified to how mail ballots are tracked in real time — and why those details matter for public trust.
From Chaos to Clarity
Florida’s process is now a layered defense against both error and suspicion. Every step, from requesting a ballot to the final count, leaves a verifiable trail.
Unlike states where ballots are mailed out automatically to anyone on the rolls, Florida requires voters to request a mail ballot for each election cycle. That single step reduces the margin for error — no more ballots piling up at old addresses or getting lost in postal limbo.
Once a voter’s request is approved, the safeguards multiply:
Each ballot packet includes a tamper-proof envelope that must be signed across the seal.
Signatures are compared against voter registration files, and mismatches are immediately flagged.
Every voter can track their ballot online, watching as it’s received, verified, and counted.
McClure shared a personal example: his 85-year-old father votes by mail because he can’t drive. “He signs an affidavit, seals the ballot, and can check online exactly where it is in the process,” McClure explained. “If something’s wrong, it’s visible. You can follow it step-by-step.”
The 7:30 Rule: No Delays, No Debates
Florida’s rules leave little room for confusion. Ballots must be received — not postmarked — by 7:30 PM on Election Night. If it’s late, it doesn’t count. Period.
That strict cutoff allows counties to begin processing and verifying ballots as soon as they arrive — often two weeks before Election Day. So when the polls close, the results start coming in almost immediately.
As McClure pointed out, that means the state avoids the chaos that plagues others. “The night of the election, you’ve already got millions of votes counted,” he said. “You’re not waiting two or three weeks for results.”
Seth Leibson added, “While other states are still opening envelopes, Florida’s already verified signatures, processed ballots, and tallied results.”
Accountability in Every Step
Every vote is observed — literally. Local election offices include both Republican and Democratic observers as ballots are opened, verified, and counted. If discrepancies arise, a manual recount is triggered for full verification.
The system also gives voters power over their own ballot. If a vote hasn’t been recorded, the voter can check online or contact the local office to learn why — whether it was delayed, flagged, or rejected for verification.
It’s a process that blends automation with oversight — minimizing error without removing human accountability.
Lessons from Arizona’s Shortcomings
By comparison, Arizona still faces procedural problems that undermine public confidence. Sam Stone described one of the biggest: when ballots are delivered to the wrong address, postal software doesn’t properly flag them — meaning the same undeliverable ballot can bounce back and forth multiple times.
“It’s a total mess,” Stone said. “Florida fixed that years ago by requiring every voter to actively request their ballot. It’s smarter, simpler, and a lot more secure.”
Trust by Design
Florida’s success isn’t accidental — it’s the product of twenty years of reform born out of national embarrassment. The state built a system that doesn’t just function well but shows voters how and why it functions well.
Transparency, speed, and accountability are built into every stage — from the voter’s kitchen table to the final tally.
“Nothing’s perfect,” McClure noted. “But when you can see your vote move through the system, when both parties have eyes on the process, and when results come fast — that’s how you rebuild trust.”
Transcript
Sam Stone: Well, so I want to talk about that because that’s where sometimes some of the activists and others on our side are very, you know, concerned about mechanical tabulation, about electronic tabulation. I don’t particularly worry about that because our process, at least in Maricopa County, is that we both parties have observers there. They pull a handful of precincts randomly out a hat, basically and then they hand count those precincts to confirm.
And if there’s any discrepancy, then we have to go back and recount everything and you’re gonna get a much bigger problem. That’s never happened. How does Florida do that and how do they address that concern?
Bob McClure: Do you talk about specifically mail-in voting? Well, it’s really interesting. We have, you know, there’s a lot more transparency and accountability. So, for example, my 85-year-old father gets a request by mail because he can’t drive anymore. So he gets the ballot. It’s very clear. You have to, you sign an affidavit saying it is you who is voting. The ballots are very simple.
In terms of understanding as opposed to what they used to be. You then have, you safeguard it in an envelope that can’t be broken. You then sign over the top of it and you mail it in. So they have signature cards on file. They compare your signature card with that signature card. has to be exactly the same way in the way that the election offices have it. If not, it doesn’t count or at least it’s put to the side.
Sam Stone: And where does that signature, I’m sorry, I’m gonna get technical here for some of our guests, but where does that signature on that signature card come from? Is that specifically from their voter registration?
Bob McClure: Absolutely. Yeah.
Sam Stone: And that’s the only one that’s used then?
Bob McClure: That is correct. So you have the full name of the person, right? So John Smith the third or whatever, however he or she wants to put it on there. And then you have their signature file on there as well. I’m sorry, their signature is on file as well. So you have these things that’s that these things, the signature that shows and if it’s not the exact name, with the exact correct signature by comparison, it’s put to the side and is not counted.
Then you can go online and follow it. You can follow where it is. Has it been received? Has it not been received? Has it been counted? When will it be counted? And you can follow it online all the way through the process. And then at the local offices, there are Republicans and Democrats who are watchingas these are opened and as these are counted. And here’s one of the really important components, two things related to mail-in voting in addition to all of the other safeguards in place.
And again, nothing’s perfect. Some of your listeners and viewers are gonna say, but you could do this or you could do that. And there is some truth to that. Nothing’s perfect. But having said that, two things are really important as it relates to mail-in voting.
One is, if it’s not received by 7:30 the night of the election, that’s it. There’s no received. That’s not postmarked. That is received. It must be received 730 the night of the election. The second component with that that I think is really interesting is that they start counting the votes when they come in. So we have two weeks of early voting. And if you have a Johnny Go-getter who mails his or her a ballot in the first day and it’s received three days later, it’s immediately counted.
Now, you don’t know how they voted, but every day you can go on Twitter and Democratic and Republican campaign managers will say 10,000 Democrats voted today, 9,300 Republicans voted today. So you combine with the pre-vote, the pre-counting, the pre-canvassing, and having those votes in with individually being able to follow it online. And then at any moment, you can go there. You can double check any way you want, but following it online.
That way, the night of the election, you’ve got, I don’t know, two million votes out of eight million casts in a presidential election year. Two, three, four million votes already counted. And so there’s none of this delay. Two weeks, three weeks, a month, six weeks later, and no confusion.
Sam Stone: Now, so, and that includes the signature verification has already been performed by that point, right?
Bob McClure: Correct.
Sam Stone: What about for, I, maybe our system’s a little different, so maybe these terms are different. What about curing of provisionals or other spoiled ballots?
Bob McClure: They are, so if I vote, okay, and I go online and my vote is not counted by day of, I can go in and figure out if I want, figure out why has my vote not been counted. So you can go in and say, I mailed this in or I dropped it in a ballot box or what have you, and you can go in and find out why has your vote not been counted?
Sam Stone: So we do something very similar. In that regard, I want to go back. We just have about two minutes left in this segment. We’re going to carry on this discussion. But the start of the process when you mentioned your father gets his ballot by mail, is that automatically mailed to all? Is it a permanent and a list of early ballot recipients? Or do they need to request it in each election cycle?
Bob McClure: You must request it in each election cycle. It is not automatic. And if you don’t request it, you don’t get it, which I think also adds a level of safeguard into the situation. I’ll give you another story. My daughter lived in Atlanta in a rental house, very nice neighborhood. This was before Georgia’s election reforms. Nice neighborhood. She lived with three other young ladies in their 20s.
She got six ballots. I believe it was Trump v. Biden. don’t think it was Hillary. I think it was Trump versus Biden. She got six different ballots mailed to her to that address with six different names on it. That does not happen in Florida. You must request, it must be granted, and then the ballot is mailed.
Sam Stone:That is one of the biggest issues we have here in Arizona. Seth a lot of people don’t realize we just literally discovered this in our office this year Arizona the carrier envelope has a box you’re supposed to check if it goes to a bad address you check it put it back in the mail USPS software doesn’t read that so it just keeps going back to the voter you can get the same ballot through the USPS five times in a row It’s a total mess on that end Florida much smarter than us in that regard.
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