Todo lo que debes saber para registrarte a votar

En este episodio conversamos con Ricardo Negrón Almodóvar director senior de la organización All Voting is Local. El grupo se dedica a educar y garantizar que ningún hispano pierda fechas importantes para ejercer su derecho cívico. El grupo no partidista también ayuda a personas a entender sus derechos como votante. Escucha la entrevista sobre el proceso de inscripción y otros detalles de las elecciones. Conoce mas de All Voting is Local aquí.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
We' re in an election seasonand I imagine you' ve heard a
lot about the electoral process. Buthere to answer your questions accompanies me in
this episode the senior director of thenon- partisan and non- profit organization
All Bowring s Locol here in Florida. Listen to this episode and note that
the conversation with Ricardo Negron almodovar beginsNow you know what local entrepreneurs do conversations

(00:24):
with community leaders tampaz connection only byIhard Grader and we welcome Ricardo Negrón almodovar.
Welcome Ricardo Greetings, Cary Carmen,Thank you very much for the invitation.
I' m sure it' san extremely important issue. With all
the events we' ve seen inthe past few days and reaching a deadline,
precisely that' s why we're talking so people can understand the

(00:45):
electoral registration process a little bit more. We started that way. Ricardo your
recommendation for those who mabe have justmoved to Florida and do not know what
this process is like, because MiraTari Carmen next Monday July 22nd comes a
very important date for people who havenever registered as voters here in Florida or
who want to make some changes thatthey can already count for the upcoming primary

(01:12):
school, which is August 20.So if I' ve never registered you
as a voter in Florida and youwant to vote in this primary, you
have to do it on or beforeMonday, July 22. Or and this
is something that causes a lot ofconfusion and is that the primaries here in
Florida is what is known as aclosed primary. What does this mean?

(01:34):
This means that not everyone can votein primary school. Only people who are
affiliated to a specific political party canvote for the candidates of that party in
what is a party primary. Sothis Monday 22nd of July is also the
last date for people who either findthemselves with any split affiliation or who want

(01:57):
to make a change to their registry, to do so so that they are
ready to then be able to voteon 20th of August for if you have
a candidate, truth that you preferand are a party primary. It means
that more people in that same partyare competing for the person who passes the

(02:19):
general elections, because you have tobe in that same party. That does
not mean, however, that onlyaffiliated people vote on August 20, because
there are some positions that are non- partisan. So it' s very
important for the person to check hiscounty office, his county election office,
which can check him online if he' s going to have a stroke that

(02:43):
day and there he' s goingto be able to see what positions he
can vote for. Now we geta little bit into the subject of eligibility
people who can vote to register whoqualifies and who doesn' t, to
register in Florida really going to thebasic requirements for all of us. The
person interested in voting here in Floridamust be eighteen years of age or older,

(03:06):
although you can also pre- registerfrom the age of sixteen. Super
important you have to be a citizenof the United States. This is extremely
important. It must also be aperson who has never been seen as a
serious crime or if he has been, that his right has been restored,
and it is also true that theyare persons who are residing in the county

(03:30):
in which they are to be registeredas voters. It is very important even
on election day. For example,a person who works in a county where
it is not his or her turnto vote cannot exercise his or her right.
You touched a very important point andit' s election day. Here,
in Fluria we have several options forvoting. We have what is the

(03:53):
mail vote, that any registered votercan request that his ballot be reached by
mail and he does not have tohave any medical excuse or because he will
be absent from his home during thosedays without excuse anyone can do it after
he is registered. We also havewhat early voting is, that this is
a vote in person, but ittends to happen between the two weeks,

(04:17):
before the election day I say betweenthe two weeks, because not the same
in all counties, so you haveto be well aware of what dates are
going to be available in the countywhere the voter lives. The biggest benefit
of taking advantage of early voting isthat the voter can go to any of
your county' s early voting centers. And there are counties that have twenty

(04:41):
- four voting centers, for example, available, and the voter can go
to any of these. These areusually public libraries, some colleges and universities.
These are the types of places thattend to be early voting centers.
Now we' re done. Forthe latter and we are already on election
day, there our options are verylimited. We have to go to the

(05:04):
voting center that corresponds to where welive. This the voter can find out,
either because when you register as votersor over the years, do they
send you a card that tells youwhere it' s up to you?
This? The election office sends youthis curatory or the voter you can verify
truth by looking in line with thepage of their election supervision, it will

(05:29):
tell you exactly where it is.Excellent, but this is the last option
to take advantage of. If youdidn' t vote in the mail,
if you didn' t take advantageof the early vote, then you have
to go between seven in the morningat seven in the evening to the right
center. Ok what about people whomight have signed up under a particular party,
right, and then in the pasthave voted by mail. But for

(05:56):
the upcoming election in November they wantto be present, they have to change
by email. How do they makethat change so that it is, for
example, from mail to being inpeople? Look at every person who voted
by mail at two thousand twenty-two. All those requests already. As
of January 1, 2000, allrequests for mail votes across the state of
Florida were zero. That because therewas a change of law where then it

(06:23):
means that, starting from the firstno of two thousand twenty- three,
if you want to vote by mailfor this election, for all the municipal
elections that have passed and for theselarge elections that are approaching, you have
to request your ballot again. Andthis can be done online with your county
' s election page, because thecounty in which the voter is registered is

(06:44):
requested. You can also do itby phone, calling the lessons office or
going in people. And with this, what I mean is that if the
person voted by mail on two thousandtwenty- two and didn' t ask
for that ballot again, it won' t get to him. You have
to, and there are deadlines.Like all truth, there is a deadline
and now for primary, the deadlineon August 8. Okay, so if

(07:10):
the person does have to get theirvote by mail, but prefers to vote
in people. No problem with that. The person can go to an early
polling station or the day of theelection he goes to his polling station and
there they will verify that the personhas not actually cast his vote. Since
he had requested his ticket by mail. So it will be verified in the

(07:32):
system that no vote has been receivedfrom the person and then, once verified,
the person will be given the ballotso that he can vote there in
people. OK and Ricardo. Iask you this question because over the years
we have understood many people who havelost him a little bit. As one
who tells the truth trust to theelectoral offices in terms of their vote on

(07:55):
election day versus by mail. Trueis what we have heard many times.
But how secure this electoral process is, both in person and by mail.
So we have heard a misinformation,I would say as to how these systems
actually operate and how secure our choicesare. It is very important that every

(08:18):
voter in Florida knows that there arealready systems that our laws are true.
Florida voting laws establish to ensure thatthe entire voting process is accurate and secure,
the entire voting team. Tests arecarried out and these tests are public.

(08:39):
Every county has its own true timewhere they' re going to publish.
The public can go to that onewhere they do that test of the
voting machines. You can witness howthe team is certified, so anyone who
has an interest in knowing more abouthow the tab team worked, etc,

(09:03):
can go to these meetings, tothese public hearings, really hold the election
offices by law have to be publicand by law are published when they are
going to be held and are opento all people. In addition to that,
Florida does a procedure called list maintenance. This is to see to ensure

(09:26):
that the people who are on thevoting lists are people who, in fact,
are eligible voters. These lists arebeing made during basically a constant process
where the election offices, as theyreceive information from other government sources of the
state, from the state election division, so that they then verify the records

(09:50):
they have of voters and can makesure that the lists are up to date,
because look at the reality is thatpeople move and sometimes they don'
t always give them or from theirdirection they don' t make the change
of direction until the day they getthe vote that' s typical. Yeah,
and then you' re no longerregistered in the previous county because you

(10:11):
were in another county. If peopledie, they are removed from the lists
or declared ineligible, either because theycommit a crime or a court declares them
ineligible, or if the voter decidesno longer is registered. As a voter
you can also ask to be removedfrom the lists. But the important thing
is that we really know that thisprocess is taking place in every county.

(10:33):
Now, and perhaps these focus alittle bit on many details, but as
we are already so close to theelections, true a period within ninety days,
because this maintenance of the lists isgiven in a not so general way,
because there is a federal law thatprohibits systematic maintenance during this period.

(10:56):
However, during this period, ifsomeone does find that they are not eligible,
they can be removed from the lists. So that' s giving you
maintenance ok and you, organizations likeor Boting smocko is the vanguard, true
everything that' s going on makingsure this process is still true as a
democratic process, as designed tell usRicardo, a little bit more about the

(11:20):
organization as you continue to help andparticularly for the benefit of the Latino community
in Florida. We are a non- partisan organization. We are in various
states, here, in Florida,we are working in coalitions with different non
- partisan organizations to precisely what youmentioned sarir carmen to ensure is that the

(11:45):
electoral process continues and all voters,all voters can assert their voice on election
day the way they prefer to vote. We, in Orbouring, are working
on training people so that they canparticipate precisely in these public hearings that I

(12:05):
mentioned to you, so that theyknow how the process of certifying the electoral
team takes place. We are alsoin coalition with organizations that train to have
monitors outside the voting centers to knowif there are any problems and to be
able to attend there immediately and obviouslybenefit the Spanish- speaking community. We

(12:30):
have our campaign for then it's late, which is the fourth year
we launched it, because obviously weunderstand Florida' s position and the large
number of Spanish- speaking voters thereare. We want to make sure that
all this electoral information reaches all thevoters and can make the best decision at

(12:52):
the time of voting. Very goodjob where people can go to find a
little more information about olbring Slock.Of course they can visit us in crazy
NGOs or also if they want togo directly to where we have the information
in Spanish, they can go tool Borings mad or diagonal and then it

(13:15):
is script late, truth, ourcampaign in Spanish is called for then it
is late, because we do notwant to leave it to last. That
' s what' s excellent.Well, Creole or I like it,
as they close the excellent phrase GoodRichard where we have to say goodbye wanted
again, because, that people understandthe deadlines that they have for these changes
or for new inscriptions. Right ifyou' ve never signed up to vote

(13:35):
in Florida or if you have tomake a change to your affiliate. Being
a partisan in front of primary school, you have until this Monday, August
22nd, and the process is theprocess of changing, right, your party
affiliation is super simple. That goesto the election supervisor' s page or
if you' re not going toregister your Florida voice two and there online,

(14:00):
then, if you do, peoplewho are as on deside or non
- affiliated also include for this certificationof a party as such. True if
you find yourself a member of aminority party, that there are many minority
parties in Florida, or if youfind what is known as NP that has
no party affiliation, you may beable to vote on August 20 if there

(14:26):
are non- partisan races in yourjurisdiction. Or and this is something that
is called a universal primary, andthat is when there are only candidates of
a party and since there are onlycandidates of a party and there will be
no opponent, because then that becomesthe general election. For that particular position,

(14:50):
there are options, you have tobe well- pending and the best
advice is for the voter to checkhis ballot to see an example ballot by
mail or you can search it onlineand there you will know exactly if there
are positions for which you can voteby car in November. From Sari Carmen,

(15:13):
everyone can vote in November, nomatter your affiliation a partisan. Yes,
well, thank you, Richard,for joining us again. Ricardo Negron
Almodóvar l is the director, lordof the Florida campaign All Bouring Sloccoo we
will have all the information available herein the description of this Podcasting you heard
well. The most important thing isto exercise that right. Thank you,
Ricardo, for being with us.Thank you for the invitation. Ri Carmen,

(15:35):
a pleasure.