Supervisors of Elections partner with Secretary of State Laurel M. Lee on NASS voter education effort

Marion County Supervisor of Elections Wesley Wilcox talks about Vote By Mail ballots as he is surrounded by ballot machines at the Marion County Election Center in Ocala, Fla. on Monday, June 29, 2020. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2020.

Last week, Marion County Supervisor of Elections Wesley Wilcox and the Florida Supervisors of Elections (FSE) announced their partnership with Florida Secretary of State Laurel M. Lee for a new voter education effort.

The partnership was created in order to support the National Association of Secretaries of State’s #TrustedInfo2022 initiative, according to an April 19 press release. In preparation of the 2022 midterm elections, NASS hopes to promote state and local election officials as the trusted source for election information.

“The biggest threat to our democracy is election misinformation, disinformation and malinformation (MDM) that undermines voter confidence in the integrity of our elections,” said Wilcox, who is also FSE president.

“Florida voters can be confident that our elections are accurate and conducted with the highest levels of integrity and transparency in our nation. We are committed to ensuring voters have access to accurate election information during the 2022 election cycle and beyond,” he added.

The goal of the initiative is to ensure the integrity of Florida’s elections and to support fair, honest and accurate elections in the State of Florida, the press release said. As elections professionals, the initiative hopes to highlight their commitment to being the official trusted sources of election-related information.

While there is a lot of information about voting and elections on the Internet and social media, the press release added, not all of it is credible.

“The spread of misinformation and disinformation to influence voters and interfere with elections is a key concern,” said Secretary of State Laurel M. Lee. “We are grateful to be partnering with NASS and the Florida Supervisors of Elections for the #TrustedInfo2022 campaign to ensure that voters in Florida know that we are the trusted sources for elections information.”

Local Supervisor of Election’s offices and the Florida Department of State will remain the credible, verified source for election information in the 2022 election cycle and beyond, stated the press release. Many election officials will the use the #TrustedInfo2022 hash tag to flag official election information on social media and other sites.

To learn more about NASS’s #TrustedInfo2022 campaign visit CanIVote.org—a nonpartisan website created by state election officials to help eligible voters figure out how and where to go vote.

At the website, one can:

• Register to vote
• Check voter registration status
• Find a polling place
• Confirm which valid forms of ID to bring to vote
• Learn how to vote absentee
• Learn how to vote early
• Learn how to vote when overseas, and much more.

For information about state and local elections, visit the Marion County Supervisor of Elections website, at VoteMarion.gov or visit the Florida Department of State’s website at DOS.MyFlorida.com/elections.