Critics say the change could wrongfully prevent thousands of eligible Floridians from voting over paperwork technicalities
Author Archives: Kate Payne
Kate Payne is The Florida Trib's state government reporter.
She’s spent her career in nonprofit newsrooms in Florida and Iowa and her reporting has run the gamut, from interviewing presidential candidates on the campaign trail to middle schoolers in the lunch line.
Kate has won awards for her political reporting, sound editing and feature writing and was named 2024 journalist of the year by the Florida chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.
Kate’s previous newsrooms include the Associated Press, Iowa Public Radio and WLRN Public Media in Miami. Her stories and photographs have been published by The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Christian Science Monitor, NPR and PBS, and her reporting on the death penalty has been cited in a filing at the U.S. Supreme Court.
You can reach Kate at kate.payne@floridatrib.org
Posted inFlorida News Articles & Reporting
Medicaid work requirements didn’t work in other states. Florida considers trying it anyway
Work requirements in other states have cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars, with little to show for it, and those who keep an eye on Florida’s lead family welfare agency question how the troubled bureaucracy can handle another regulatory hurdle.
Posted inFlorida News Articles & Reporting
‘Constitutional trainwreck’: Florida lawmakers seek surveillance crackdown
The legislation, which has come under fierce criticism from civil-rights and free speech advocates, represents another expansion of Florida’s security apparatus under Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Posted inFlorida News Articles & Reporting
New records show Florida officials burned more than $1.2 million per day on ‘Alligator Alcatraz’
Last August, the Florida Division of Emergency Management requested a $1.49 billion grant from the federal government, underscoring the staggering scale of spending of taxpayer dollars on federal immigration enforcement.
Posted inFlorida News Articles & Reporting
As judge weighs challenge to voter-fraud law, Floridians lose power at ballot box
For years, voters have used the amendment process to enact popular and major changes in Florida law from environmental regulations to public education, often over the objections of the state’s Republican leaders, who are now on the verge of snuffing out a perennial political thorn in their side.
Posted inState Government
DeSantis spent $573 million on immigration. The feds may never pay Florida back
Months after federal officials publicly committed to awarding Florida more than half a billion dollars to cover immigration enforcement costs, attorneys for the federal government appear to be backtracking on the grant award.
Posted inFlorida Election Coverage
State announces no citizens’ initiatives qualified for 2026 ballot, following new law
In the wake of a new state law designed to rein in ballot initiatives, advocates fear Florida could become a blueprint for other states.
Posted inFlorida Election Coverage, State Government
The ‘virtually impossible’ path for citizens’ ballot initiatives in Florida
New ballot initiative restrictions, approved by the Florida Legislature and enforced by state officials, are so strict that advocates say they make the process effectively impossible for grassroots campaigns to navigate.
Posted inState Government
Before ascending to Florida Supreme Court, judge backed DeSantis’ redistricting push
First District Court of Appeal Judge Adam Tanenbaum would be a critical ally to DeSantis on a high court that the governor has already shaped significantly.
Posted inFlorida Election Coverage, State Government
One million Floridians won’t have full representation for high-stakes legislative session
The diminished representation comes at a time when lawmakers are expected to weigh sweeping measures to redraw the state’s congressional voting maps and drastically reduce local property tax revenues.