Coronavirus changing ‘the very nature’ of Florida campaigns - Politico

Raquel "Rocky" Rodriguez, shareholder in the firm's Litigation section, comments on the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on political campaigns in light of this year's primary and general elections in Politico's article "Coronavirus Changing ‘The Very Nature’ of Florida Campaigns."

"This is going to take some real planning," said Raquel Rodriguez, who worked for the presidential campaigns of Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney and is now with Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney.

Rodriguez, who helped Bush, as governor, pull off an election in the hurricane-ravaged years of 2004 and 2005, said communication between political parties could help avoid confusion and legal clashes — courtrooms might not even be open. When Palm Beach County had ballot issues during Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign, they got together with Barack Obama‘s campaign attorneys and asked for third-party supervision.

"That is the paradigm," she said. "I would hope that [attorneys] for the national campaigns and political parties get together and work with election officials to come up with solutions.

More people will vote by mail, she said, and local election officials will need to boost voter education efforts to prevent ballot rejections over signature disparities, for example.