From the Miami Herald
By Steve Bousquet
TALLAHASSEE -- Gov. Rick Scott on Thursday signed a controversial overhaul of the election laws that Republicans say is needed to prevent voter fraud and Democrats call a cynical act of partisanship to improve GOP chances in Florida next year.
Critics assailed him for endorsing “voter suppression” tactics aimed at making it tougher for President Barack Obama to capture Florida’s prized 29 electoral votes in 2012.
“I want people to vote, but I also want to make sure there’s no fraud involved in elections,” Scott said. “All of us as individuals that vote want to make sure that our elections are fair and honest.”
But some supervisors who run elections in Florida say the state’s voter registration database is highly reliable. A statement from their statewide association warns Scott that the changes could cause chaos and confusion at the polls next year.
The League of Women Voters says it will suspend voter-registration activity because the bill requires such groups’ volunteers to register with the state and face fines of up to $1,000 for not submitting voting forms within 48 hours.
The bill also cuts early voting days from 15 to eight and requires some voters who have moved to cast provisional ballots, a change most likely to affect college students.
The bill wipes out policy in place for four decades in Florida that allowed voters to update their legal addresses when they voted.
Republicans call that an invitation to fraud, so the new law allows only voters who have moved within the same county to update their addresses at the polls.
None of the bill’s most controversial provisions was pushed by Scott’s chief elections expert, Secretary of State Kurt Browning. He broke weeks of silence Thursday about an hour after his boss, Scott, signed the legislation.
“I know bad election law when I see it,” Browning said. “I don’t think this bill is bad for Florida. … It doesn’t negatively impact Florida voters.”
The law takes effect immediately, which means its first test will be in Miami-Dade, the state’s largest county, which is electing a new county mayor and other officials Tuesday. Supervisor of Elections Lester Sola will end early voting Saturday — three days before Election Day, as the new law requires — a decision candidate Marcelo Llorente is fighting in court.
But in five counties it won’t go into effect until the federal government approves. Any change in state election laws that affects those counties — Hillsborough, Collier, Monroe, Hendry and Hardee — requires approval by the Justice Department in a process known as “pre-clearance.”
The legislation generated far more public opposition than any other bill of the 2011 session. Some was engineered by the League of Women Voters, which has thousands of members in Florida.
Scott’s office reported 14,000 calls and e-mails in opposition; nearly 1,300 in favor. A notation by Scott’s staff said:
“Majority oppose. Urging Governor to veto these bills because they change our voting laws, making it more difficult for some voters to cast their vote.”
Democrats, labor unions and voter advocacy groups have been up in arms for weeks, saying the bill was designed to stifle turnout in Florida next year, especially among students. Democrats in Congress have asked the U.S. Justice Department to block the bill from taking effect
While the bill reduces early voting from 15 days to eight, it still allows for up to 96 hours of early voting in all. Early voting was widely credited as a factor in Obama’s Florida victory in 2008.
Under the new law, election supervisors can run early voting sites for up to 12 hours a day. But their pleas for more early voting sites were ignored by the Legislature — and as a result, some supervisors predict longer lines than ever next year.
In highly mobile metropolitan Orlando, where Democratic voter registration is surging, Orange County Supervisor of Election Bill Cowles fears havoc next year because thousands of voters typically seek to vote after moving into his county from surrounding areas.
In 2008, Cowles said, about 8,000 county voters updated their addresses on Election Day and about 3,000 of them had moved to Orange from another county. Under the new law, those county-to-county voters will be restricted to casting provisional ballots.
“The average voter is not paying attention, and they will not pay attention until they’re hit with this on Election Day,” Cowles said.
“Especially if they are one of the voters who moved from one county to the next.”
Cowles also said fears of voter fraud are unfounded because Florida has a highly accurate and reliable state-run voter registration database. Every voter has a unique identifying number and a voter must show a photo ID before being given a ballot.
During debate over the election law at the Capitol, Cowles said of the database: “Never once did I hear the Legislature refer to this tool the state owns.”
Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, who’s up for re-election next year, and Florida’s six House Democrats sent the Justice Department a letter calling the new law “a clear violation of the Voting Rights Act.”
The elections bill, HB 1355, passed the Legislature with overwhelming Republican support. Republican Sens. Mike Fasano of New Port Richey and Paula Dockery of Lakeland voted no.
Fasano said Scott made the wrong decision.
“Florida has always been a state that has been open in having access to voting for legal residents. In fact, we brag about that,” Fasano said. “This bill reduces that access.”
Times/Herald staff writers Alex Leary, Patricia Mazzei and Janet Zink and Miami Herald staff writer Laura Figueroa contributed to this report. Steve Bousquet can be reached at bousquet@sptimes.com or (850) 224-7263.
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/05/19/2224624_p2/gov-rick-scott-signs-controversial.html#ixzz1MqsC5mGS
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/05/19/2224624/gov-rick-scott-signs-controversial.html#ixzz1Mqrzb0z0
Rick Scott what a great man!
ReplyDeleteWhat great judgement of the people who voted for him!