Broward goes back to wallet-sized voter registration cards

The Broward Supervisor of Elections is remailing newly sized voter registration cards after complaints from the public that their supersized cards no longer fit in a wallet.

“We accept feedback here,” quipped Joe Scott, Broward’s elections supervisor.

“There was a lot of people,” he acknowledged of the unhappy voters who contacted his office. “I didn’t realize how many folks were eager to have wallet cards.”

The move to change course was an effort to “give the people what they want.”

The mailings of the new cards, combined with a sample ballot, started last week. The office expects the last of the mailings to go out by Thursday.

In July, the Broward Supervisor of Elections Office mailed new cards on a document larger than a traditional postcard.

Because the key information is not perforated, it was deliberately intended for voters to file away in personal papers at home, and not carry to the polls or around town.

The old size was “deceiving,” because people thought they needed the card to vote, the office said at the time.

The size gave the message, “‘Don’t forget to bring it with you,’ which is not the case.”

All of Broward’s 1.2 million registered voters got the new large cards and now all voters will get the new original-sized cards.

Scott said voters were telling him they were pulling out scissors to cut down the new cards to fit in their wallets, and he realized, “Wow, they really want to carry it.”

“The intentions were good, but hey, I don’t think all my ideas are perfect and I’m willing to change course when necessary.”