Satcher Addresses Controversial SOE Mail Piece

MANATEE—The details of a controversial mail piece sent by the local Supervisor of Elections Office to registered voters in Manatee County are becoming clearer. Current Elections Supervisor James Satcher spoke with TBT about new voter information cards and an accompanying letter and why they were sent. Public records have also provided more insight. 

Earlier this week, registered voters in Manatee County received new voter information cards and a personal letter from Supervisor of Elections James Satcher.

As the letters and new voter information cards began arriving in mailboxes across the county, numerous recipients shared their confusion, concerns, and even criticisms of the mailpieces on social media—and directly to TBT by email and phone.

The source of the confusion was that some voters received “new” voter information cards that contained outdated and inaccurate information.

The majority of the roughly two dozen individuals who reported to TBT that the new information card they or a family member received contained incorrect information said the card listed the wrong party affiliation or an incorrect address. At least one person stated that their name was incorrect on the new card.

Voters expressed confusion about whether their voter registration had changed and if the incorrect details appearing on their new voter information cards would impact where they should cast their ballots or their ability to participate in the upcoming primary election.

Despite incorrect information appearing on the new cards, when voter registration details were checked online through Florida’s Division of Elections, the voters we spoke to confirmed that their voter registration information was recorded correctly with the state. 

Based on the information provided to TBT, individuals who changed or updated their voter registration on or after July 1 received new information cards containing errors.

Comments from the SOE

Following an emailed request for comment, Supervisor Satcher contacted TBT on Wednesday to discuss the new voter information cards and to help clear up the confusion.

Speaking by phone, Satcher explained that his office sent the letter with new voter information cards to every registered voter in Manatee County. As stated in the letter that accompanied the cards, he reiterated that Florida Statute 97.1031 required the action because he was a new elections supervisor, and his name was required to appear on every card. 

Satcher said that some voters received new information cards with details that did not match their actual voter registration because the bulk mailing was prepared and mailed by an outside vendor.

“Full-size mailing is a different process than how individual cards are mailed,” explained Satcher. “If we are going to send thousands—in this case, tens of thousands—of information cards we have to download the registered voter data from a certain point in time and then send that to the printer to prepare the larger mailing.”

For the vendor to be able to print and prepare such a large order of letters and information cards, his office had to provide data at the time of placing the order, but the order was not completed and ready for mailing until weeks after the data had been pulled. Voters who changed or updated their voter registration information during the time between when the data was pulled and when the letters were mailed likely received “new” voter information cards with outdated information.

He elaborated that when individual voters make updates or changes to their voter registrations, the changed information must be printed on a new voter information card and mailed to the voter. When new cards are printed and mailed due to a voter submitting registration changes, staff at the SOE office handle them on-site. 

“The office sees 100 to 200 new registrations and voter registration change requests per day, on average,” Satcher added. “For stuff like that, SOE staff will process the new cards.”

TBT asked Satcher whether he could provide the date—or “point in time”—when the voter data was pulled. While he wasn’t able to state an exact date over the phone, Satcher agreed that our estimation based on the voters we spoke with appeared accurate—sometime during the last week of June.

When asked if the office knew approximately how many voters may have received new voter information cards with incorrect information, Satcher said he was unsure of the exact number. 

After TBT described the concerns and confusion expressed to our publication by people who received a new card with incorrect information, Satcher responded by telling us that many of those errors were due to the fault of voters who had changed their voter registration information in the last 3-4 weeks.

“Anybody who deliberately waited to change their party affiliation at the last minute to rig the primary election,” said Satcher, “Well, then that’s on them.”

According to Florida Statute, Chapter 97, Section 97.055, those registered to vote in Florida have the legal right to change their party affiliations and to participate in the upcoming primary elections under their newly designated party affiliation. A change in party affiliation must be made before the registration books are closed on the 29th day before the scheduled election.

For the upcoming primary election, July 22 was the deadline for voters to change their party affiliation. The SOE letters containing the voter cards first began arriving in voters' mailboxes on July 23. 

Satcher did not mention that the Manatee County Supervisor of Elections primary race—in which he is a candidate—will be closed to only registered Republican voters because of a write-in candidate.

In the August 20 primary, Satcher will face Scott Farrington in the Supervisor of Elections race. Satcher and Farrington are the only qualified candidates in the race, and both are Republicans.

Florida is one of less than a dozen states nationwide that effectively have a closed primary process. Primary elections are held in advance of the general election. During a primary election, voters select which “primary” candidates will represent each party in the general election.

In Florida, if a race includes qualified candidates from more than one political party, then the primary election is “closed,” and voters will only be permitted to cast votes for those candidates whose party affiliation is the same as the party which the voter registered with. The Florida constitution was amended to provide for open primaries when there are only qualified candidates from one political party, and that primary will, therefore, decide the outcome of the race. Under those circumstances,  all voters—no matter their party affiliation—will have that race on their primary ballot and may cast a vote in the race. 

Because Satcher and his opponent are both registered Republicans and because no Democrat or other party candidates qualified for the race, the Supervisor of Elections race should have been an “open” primary. However, because a qualified write-in candidate entered the race for SOE, the primary race will now be a “closed” election.

In what is commonly referred to as the “write-in loophole,” unknown candidates who never stage an actual campaign simply fill out a form to be eligible to receive write-in votes. Unlike a qualified candidate who either collects the required number of voter petition signatures or pays the qualifying fee, a write-in candidate’s name will not appear on the ballot. Instead, a line is provided for voters to manually write in the candidate's name.

Write-in candidates are automatically designated as non-party candidates, and once one enters an otherwise open primary race, courts have ruled that the write-in triggers the closed primary rule, locking down what would have otherwise been a primary race open to all voters.

These campaign-less candidates are sometimes referred to as “shadow” candidates and have been used by both major parties across the state to shut out portions of the electorate from having a voice in important local races. Click here to read more about the history of the “write-in loophole” and how it is used to close primary races.

In the case of this year’s SOE race, the write-in candidate who entered and closed the primary has done the same thing in local commissioner races twice before.

As previously reported by TBT, when Thomas Whitten Dell—the current write-in for the SOE race—filed as a write-in for commission races in 2012 and 2020, the residential address he provided on his registration was that of a property owned by River Woods LLC. The LLC shares the same business address as local developer Carlos Beruff’s Medallion Home.

Following Satcher’s comment that the voters were to blame for “trying to rig the election,” TBT reminded him that voters who updated any of their registration information between when the data was pulled and the cards were delivered—including their home address—would have received new cards with incorrect information.

Satcher responded by stating that he “hadn’t thought about" voters who might have made address changes and acknowledged that such an error could potentially lead to confusion about the correct polling location.

“That’s fair, and in those situations, it wasn’t those voters’ fault,” he said. “Those voters should go to the voting location based on their current address.”

Receiving new voter information cards with errors was not the only concern that members of the public shared with TBT. Some of the voters we heard from were unhappy that money was spent to issue them a new voter information card even though they already had a card that included James Satcher’s name.

These individuals described that after making changes to their address or party affiliation, they received a new voter information card within days of submitting the change. The new information card they received last week with Satcher’s letter had the correct information and was identical to a card they had already been issued by the SOE weeks or months prior.

This unnecessary duplication of a card led some to suspect that the need to issue new cards was just a justification for sending letters that could serve as campaign advertisements before the August election. 

In response to hearing of voters receiving new cards when they already had a card that included his name, Satcher agreed that it was a fair point to raise but emphasized that the data had to be pulled at a set point in time and provided to the vendor for processing.

When asked whether IT staff would have been able to cull the voter data before it was sent to the vendor to remove any voters who had already been issued a new voter information card since his appointment to the office in April, Satcher said he was unsure whether that was an option. 

“I hadn’t thought about that, so it didn't come up, but I also don’t know if that is something IT would have even been able to do,” he said. 

The Numbers

TBT requested public records from the SOE to better understand how many voters may have received new voter information cards with incorrect or outdated information and the cost of the mail pieces.

According to records, approximately 2,056 Manatee County voters changed or updated their voter registration between July 1 and July 22. When these voters received the letter and new voter registration card last week, their voter information cards likely contained some incorrect information.

The registrations processed during this timespan included 823 changes of party affiliation, 1,081 changes of address, and 62 name changes.

During that same time, there were 1,749 new voter registrations.

As for how many voters received a letter and “new” voter information card but may have already had a card bearing Satcher’s name, this number likely exceeds 10,000 voters.

Between April 21 and July 20, data showed 15,167 instances that would've required the SOE to mail a voter a new card, including new voter registrations, address changes, party affiliation changes, name changes, and requests for a replacement card.

Governor Ron DeSantis appointed Satcher as the SOE on April 12.

TBT also requested public records of the charges from the vendor who printed and mailed the letters and cards.

According to invoices, the printing and mailing of 269,007 letters and voter cards cost the SOE $101,262.

The price per unit for the vast majority of the order was $0.23. A smaller portion of 5,340 letters were billed at a slightly higher rate of $0.30 per unit. The more expensive letters included a green arrow and text that highlighted a polling location change.

“The letter states that because of 97.071 F.S., Satcher was required to send everyone a new card. In my two decades of experience, I have never heard of a supervisor interpreting that section of law to require an office to send a new card out to all voters based on a change in the supervisor. The statute outlines when it is required, and that is only for a change of name, address, polling place, or party affiliation. A change in the supervisor's name is not on the list. Since the 2022 election, there have been 9 new SOEs appointed in Florida. Of those I talked to, none of them sent out all new voter information cards when they came into office. As a note, we did not do this when Mike Bennett came into office.”

The portion of the statute that Farrington refers to in his post appears in the last sentences. It reads, “The voter registration official shall make the necessary changes in the elector’s records as soon as practical upon receipt of such notice of a change of address of legal residence, name, or party affiliation. The supervisor of elections shall issue the new voter information card.”

TBT asked Satcher his understanding of the last sentence of the statute his letter cited and whether other interpretations gave him any pause. Satcher said he was aware of his opponent's post and strongly disagreed with Farrington’s interpretation.

In response to the accusations levied by some voters that the mass-mailing was wasteful spending, undertaken too close to the primary election, or that the decision to send every registered voter a new information card was only justification to send the accompanying letter with his photo and personal message, Satcher stressed that none of that was the case. 

“I was following the statute,” he answered without hesitation. “It says the supervisor is responsible for providing all registered voters with information cards, and those cards must contain certain details, including the name of the Supervisor of Elections."

He added, "We are just doing our best job to do a great election, and I think we are going to do a good job at that.”

Before ending the call, we asked Satcher whether anyone from his office had reached out to the Florida Division of Elections to request their opinion or clarity as to what the statute required.

“We did not reach out to the state,” he answered. “I asked an attorney and they agreed with my interpretation and reading of the statute.”

Satcher did not state the name of the attorney he spoke with.

Dawn Kitterman is a staff reporter and investigative journalist for The Bradenton Times covering local government news. She can be reached at dawn.kitterman@thebradentontimes.com.