Comments on: What changed?

Question: What changed?

yclipse — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 04:46:44 -0800

What changed about Florida's GOTV laws this year? A story at Slate called The Fraud That Failed says that a new law restricted the time within which "churches [could] turn out the early vote."

This is characterized as "voter fraud" and "voter suppression," which is probably unlikely, but I am not interested in having that debate here on the green.

My question is more factual: I just want to know what changes were made in the Florida law. The article is remarkably uninformative about that issue, and online searches have not enlightened me.

By: Doofus Magoo

Doofus Magoo — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 05:53:58 -0800

Searching for the actual bill might give you some better leads -- it was Florida HB 1355.

Here's a summary from the League of Women Voters, which briefly suspended voter registration efforts in the state because of the law's requirements. The question of how the law impedes early voting efforts probably refers to the provision that the timeframe during which early voting is allowed was decreased from 14 days (encompassing two weekends prior to the election) to eight (one weekend).

By: arco

arco — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 05:54:18 -0800

In all seriousness, the Daily Show's segment about the Florida laws explains at least some of the changes really well, and how they serve to suppress voter registration.

By: Fairchild

Fairchild — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 06:42:31 -0800

Article in the Orlando Sentinel about shorter early voting schedule.

Florida's new voting laws have shortened the in-person early voting period from 14 to eight days, a decision which some election officials say will create longer lines and possibly effect turnout...

By: cashman

cashman — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 09:37:33 -0800

The Brennan Center has a lot of good info here from when the courts ruled against the changes, and here, detailing the filings.

On December 15, 2011, the League of Women Voters of Florida, Rock the Vote, and the Florida Public Interest Research Group Education Fund ("PIRG") filed suit in federal court in Tallahassee challenging Florida's onerous new restrictions on community-based voter registration drives.

The restrictions challenged in the suit were enacted by Florida legislators earlier this year as part of H.B. 1355, a broad package of election law changes. They include extremely burdensome administrative requirements, unreasonably tight deadlines for submission of completed forms, and heavy penalties for even the slightest delay or mistake. These restrictions are so unnecessarily harsh that they have forced the League of Women Voters and Rock the Vote, among other groups, to shut down their voter registration programs in Florida.

On behalf of these civic groups, the Brennan Center, the ACLU Foundation of Florida, and pro bono partners Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, and Coffey Burlington asked the court to block Florida's new restrictions on the basis that they violate both the U.S. Constitution and the National Voter Registration Act. On March 1, Plaintiffs presented their argument for a preliminary injunction in front of Judge Hinkle of the Northern District of Florida.

The groups' objections focus on three key effects of the Law. They claim that Florida's restrictions:

(1) Violate Plaintiffs' constitutionally protected rights of speech and association;

(2) Fail to give individuals and groups fair notice of how to comply with its confusing and unclear mandates; and

(3) Violate the National Voter Registration Act – a federal law designed in part to encourage community-based voter registration activity. The law will restrict the opportunity and ability of citizens and grassroots organizations to conduct voter registration drives, which disproportionately register African-American and Hispanic Floridians to vote.

By: kat518

kat518 — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 10:00:51 -0800

Florida voters love early voting. In 2008, early voting lines were significantly longer than those seen on election day. At churches in Florida, especially black churches in Florida, congregations would vote early after services. Canceling early voting on Sundays was seen as a middle finger in the faces of those voters.

By: yclipse

yclipse — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 10:15:13 -0800

Thanks for the responses. It looks like the shortened time period was left standing after the court ruled.

I was taken aback by the suggestion in the story that the law was aimed specifically at churches. That clearly is not the case.

By: cashman

cashman — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 10:38:38 -0800

Churches are one of the groups parts of the changes in the law are specifically aimed at. The League of Women Voters is another group other parts of the changes in the law are specifically aimed at.