Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI)

U.S. Sens. Herb Kohl (D-WI) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) this week called on the state of Florida to give representatives from the Government Accountability Office access to polling places on Election Day. The GAO plans to research voting access for seniors and the disabled during the upcoming election.

The national GAO study will examine actions states are taking to ensure that the disabled and residents of long-term care facilities cast ballots. The agency hopes to conduct surveys in 100 randomly selected counties in all 50 states on Nov. 4. In a letter to Florida Secretary of State Kurt S. Browning, the senators noted that Florida is the only state that has completely denied the GAO access to its polling places. The GAO had sought access to four Florida counties: Miami-Dade, Broward, Pinellas and Hillsborough.

Florida is a big prize for presidential candidates because of its high number of electoral votes. It is a data-rich state for the GAO because of its high number of elderly people. Including the Sunshine State in the national survey will preserve the integrity of GAO’s random sample protocol, according to the senators.