The Independent View: U.S. District Court Enjoins Parts of Florida Law on Voter Registration

Thanks to Ballot Access News for this post.

On May 31, U.S. District Court Judge Robert L. Hinkle granted injunctive relief to some organizations: League of Women Voters of Florida, Florida Public
Interest Research Group Education Fund, and Rock the Vote, that wish to register voters in Florida. The case is League of Women Voters of Florida v Browning, 4:11cv628.

The laws that were enjoined were passed by the legislature in 2011. The first law that is enjoined is one that says groups that register voters must return all such completed forms to the elections office within 48 hours of the voter’s having signed the form.

The second law is one that requires groups to identify every person who works on a voter registration drive, even if the individual only hands out leaflets.

The third law enjoined is one that requires everyone who works on a voter registration drive to sign a sworn statement that he or she knows that anyone who submits a voter registration form that includes any false information is guilty of a felony.

That law makes little sense, because people who help others fill out voter registration forms must submit all completed forms to elections officials, whether there is any misinformation on the form or not. Furthermore, a volunteer in a voter registration drive probably wouldn’t know if anything a voter wrote on a card is false or not.

A fourth law enjoined is one that requires voter registration groups to account for every blank form.

From the Court:

This case presents a challenge to Florida Statutes § 97.0575, as amended in 2011, and to an implementing rule, Florida Administrative Code Rule 1S-2.042. The statute and rule regulate organizations that conduct voter-registration drives. The plaintiffs are organizations that have conducted such drives in the past and wish to continue to do so. They have moved for a preliminary injunction barring enforcement of the statute and rule.

This order grants the motion in part based on this analysis. Under the First and Fourteenth Amendments, an election-code provision of this kind must serve a legitimate purpose that is sufficient to warrant the burden it imposes on the right to vote. And under the National Voting Rights Act, an organization has a federal right to conduct a voter-registration drive, collect voter-registration applications, and mail in the applications to a state voter-registration office.

Use the above link to view the Court decision.