Karen Castor Dentel, our new Orange County Supervisor of Elections, shared updated information as we prepare for the midterm elections. This election happens midway through our presidential four-year term. The following are elections happening March, August 16th and November 3rd. This is the election year which determines our new Governor; Judges and some counties will elect Mayors, new Commissioners and other officials.
If you vote by mail (which begins February 23rd), you will have to make that request every year, so do that today. Early voting is March 2nd - 6th. Please note that with the new SAVE Act - you are going to be required to not only show proof of identification with your State issued ID or driver’s license, but there may come a time where you will need your Voter ID card, a birth certificate or passport.
You can get your birth certificate at www.floridadepartmentofhealth.gov. If you need financial assistance to obtain any of your forms of identification, contact 1-800VOTERIDERS.
Check these websites to find your polling place:
www.ocfelections.gov
www.voteseminoe.gov
www.voteosceola.gov
The State Attorney for the 9th Judicial Circuit, Monique Worrell shared how her submission to get the Victims of Crime Act re-funded was drastically reduced by the appointed, Attorney General Uthmire.
This decrease in funding will affect how her office deals with victims of crime and how many staff members can be retained. The advocates are necessary to assist victims of both domestic violence and child abuse.
She discussed the ruling received in the recent case of the 70-year-old father who gave his unlicensed 15-year-old keys to a car who then caused the death of 4 people in a reckless accident. She stressed the importance of parental responsibility and how it can affect youth based on their unfortunate decisions. As far as the federal funds reduced to the Victims of Crime Act or VOCA, please consider writing Tallahassee to get funds reinstated. Contact Christina.Harris@myfloridalegal.com or call 850/414-3300.
Here is the verbiage you can use in a letter or when you make your phone call;
Dear Ms. Harris, I am writing to request that the 9th Circuit State Attorney’s Office VOCA funding be restored to reflect the actual number of victims served by our victim advocates. Last year, the victim advocates in this office served 46 child abuse/neglect cases and 11,000 domestic violence victims. The current requirement for this office to serve 1,000 child abuse/neglect victims and only 689 domestic violence victims is out of alignment with the requirements imposed on other State Attorney’s Offices throughout the state. I appreciate your time and consideration regarding this necessary adjustment to our funding criteria.
Genesis Robinson, Executive Director of Equal Ground gave us an update on the actions happening in Tallahassee during the 1st legislative session of 2026.
Although this is Gov. DeSantis’ last term in office, he still is able to make decisions that affect us. Some 2,000 bills have been issued and one that will affect us all is property tax cuts. If taxes are cut it would affect public education, safety concerns and more. We also talked about the SAVE Act, which is getting national support. That is the bill that would require additional ID in order to vote.
Find out more about www.equal-ground.com. Join their calls every third Monday of the month or get on their email list.
Listen to the full episode here:
