Florida's new voting map will cost taxpayers, add work for elections supervisors

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - County elections officials across Florida are scrambling to notify voters that their congressional district has changed. It's an effort that will cost taxpayers statewide millions.

In Tampa Bay alone, the notifications, which are required by law, could cost taxpayers nearly $1.6 million.

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday signed into law a redrawn congressional map that is expected to be in effect when voters go to the polls for the August primaries and November midterm elections.

It cuts the state's reliably Democratic districts, including one in Tampa Bay, from eight to four. The map changes the majority of the state's congressional districts - 21 out of 28.

In Florida, 67 county elections supervisors administer elections and register voters.

Those supervisors must provide updated voter information cards to residents whose congressional districts and local voting areas, called precincts, have changed.

The cards must reflect a voter's new precinct, districts and polling location, according to state law. They serve as proof of registration but not legal verification of voting eligibility.

In Pasco County, voters are being split into three different congressional districts instead of two.

Sending out tens of thousandsof cardsto affected voters in an election year is an unexpected expense, said Brian Corley, supervisor of elections in Pasco County.He estimated that sending those cards out alone would cost his office $300,000.

He flagged that figure in a letter to state lawmakers representing Pasco County before they approved the map last week.

"I wanted to make you aware of the unfunded cost to the taxpayers of Pasco County for this initiative," he wrote.

Pinellas County's election office last week asked the County Commission for $508,550 to pay for the notifications, said Dustin Chase,deputy supervisor of elections. The county is still split into two districts on the new map, but in different configurations. St. Petersburg spans two newly drawn districts.

"We did not budget for a voter information card mailing," he said. He said his office will have to figure out precinct changes after formally getting the map. Cards will be sent out after that.

Hillsborough County still has three congressional districts, but they are configured differently.

Gerri Kramer, a spokesperson for the Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections office, estimates it will cost roughly$750,000 to pay for voter notifications.

"We don't know how many cards we are going to need to send yet," Kramer said. "Once we know that, we will get a current estimate on how much that will cost."

State lawmakers, who are returning to Tallahassee next week for budget negotiations, have not proposed any additional money to help counties cover the cost. As of last week, there were no plans to do so, said Sen. Ed Hooper, who oversees the Senate's budget committee.

Hooper did not respond to questions Monday about whether that had changed.

Brad Ashwell, the Florida state director for All Voting is Local, a voter advocacy organization, said the group will study the impact of the new map on voters and how to educate them about where to vote.

Voters who already struggle to register or get identification to vote are often the ones who bear the brunt of last-minute changes to elections, Ashwell said.

"Confusion is a voter suppression strategy," he said last week.

Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee bureau reporters Lawrence Mower and Romy Ellenbogen contributed to this story.

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This story was originally published May 5, 2026 at 4:32 PM.