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DECLARATION OF ELIESE HUNT

I, ELIESE HUNT, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1746, declare as follows:

1. I am over the age of 18 and fully competent to make this declaration. 

2. I am a 29-year-old black man.

3. I live in Sarasota, Florida in Sarasota County.

4. I am eligible to vote in Florida. I was convicted of a felony over a decade ago, and have 

completed all of the terms of my sentence, including paying my fines and fees. 

5. I have never registered to vote before, but I am proud to have my voting rights back and I

want to vote in this election.

6. Florida Rights Restoration Coalition (FRRC) texted me on Monday, October 5 to notify 

me that my fines and fees were paid off and I could register that day to vote in the 

upcoming election.

7. After speaking with FRRC and learning that Monday, October 5th was the deadline for 

voter registration, I spent hours attempting to register to vote but was unsuccessful. 

8. I do not own a printer, so I made all of my attempts to register to vote through Florida’s 

Online Voter Registration (OVR) system on my mobile phone.

9. I am used to navigating websites and applications on my phone and do not typically have 

difficulty completing transactions on my phone.

10. I visited the OVR site around 7:30pm and started my application. 

11. Every time I filled in the information and clicked “Continue” to go to the next page, I was 

unable to get past the “CAPTCHA” screen where I was asked to confirm that I am a 

human user by selecting the correct images. Each time I would select the images and then 

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push the “I’m not a robot” button the wheel would spin and the same screen kept popping 

up again and again.

12. Several times the screen would go completely blank when I hit the “Continue” button. 

Other times, the page would reload and the site would send me back to a blank form with

all of my information erased.

13. On a few occasions, when I hit the “Continue” button, the site would send me back to the

main page of the website and I would have to start completely over again.

14. After about 13 attempts on the second page of the application, I finally advanced to the

third screen around 9:20pm.

15. On the third screen, I completed my information and hit “Continue.” I received an error 

message telling me there was an invalid response. These error messages continued to pop 

up multiple times, and I had to re-enter my information every time.

16. After hours attempting to register, I learned from a family member that the website had 

crashed around the state and was not allowing anyone to register. I finally stopped trying 

to register around 10:00pm after approximately two and a half hours of trying.

17. The hours of effort and frustration gave me a headache and were extremely discouraging 

as a new voter.

18. On Tuesday, October 6th, FRRC texted me to tell me that the voter registration deadline 

had been extended until 7:00pm that day. 

19. I am a construction worker who works from 8:00am to 7:00pm Monday through Friday. I

am not allowed to step away from my job at unauthorized times. I knew that I would not 

be able to register if I had to wait until I finished work.

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20. Registering to vote was so important to me that I took a quick break to try registering

again on my phone.

21. This time, I made it to the third page of the application and completed the “Personal 

Information” section.

22. The system, however, told me that I had to print and submit a paper application. There 

was no way I could do this while I was at work. 

23. As soon as I finished work at 7:00pm, I went home, made sure my children had dinner, 

and then went to a local store to print the voter registration application. I completed the 

application and went to my local Supervisor of Elections Office to deliver the application. 

24. When I arrived, I saw that the Supervisor’s office closed at 5:00pm. There was no way I

could have made it to the Supervisor’s office before it closed.

25. If the voter registration deadline is extended again, I would use that time to register to vote. 

Additional time would allow me to try to register on the website again or deliver my paper 

application to the Supervisor’s office before it closes at 5pm. I can sometimes leave work 

early on Fridays.

26. I want to register and vote in this upcoming election. Voting is important to me because I

have spent years rebuilding my life, and now that I feel like a full person again, I want to 

have dignity knowing that I can vote. It is something I have always wanted to do, and I

want to help build a better community and life for my children. Extra time to register 

would give me that chance.

27. I declare, under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States of America, that 

the foregoing is true and correct. 

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RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED

Sarasota, Florida

October 7, 2020 

Eliese Hunt

Printed Name

/s/ Eliese Hunt

Signature

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