The Independent View: Federal District Court Preliminarily Blocks FL SOS Barring College Campus Locations as Early Voting Sites

The Case is 4:18-cv-00251-MW-CAS, UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA TALLAHASSEE DIVISION, LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF FLORIDA, INC., et al., v. KENNETH W. DETZNER, in his Official Capacity as the Florida Secretary of State.

Despite Early Voting’s Popularity among Florida’s College Students, No Early Voting site can exist on a College or University Campus, as a Direct result of Secretary of State Kenneth Detzner’s (“Defendant”) Opinion DE 14-01 (the “Opinion”), ECF No. 24, Ex. A,2 issued through the Division of Elections, none of the nearly 830,000 Students Enrolled in a Public University or College can Vote early on Campus. And none of the 68% of Gainesville Residents affiliated with UF or Santa Fe College can Vote Early where they work, Study, or, for Thousands of Students, live.

The Court Granted a Preliminary Injunction in League of Women Voters v. Detzner.

In addition to applying the Anderson-Burdick Balancing Test for Equal Protection Claims, the Court also applied a Twenty-Sixth Amendment Analysis, finding that the Secretary of State’s Opinion barring College Campus Locations as Early Voting Sites was Pretextual Discrimination in Voting on the basis of Age.

We are likely to see this 26th Amendment Analysis used in the Lower Courts, and potentially end up before the Supreme Court in the next few years, either in this Case or another.

CLICK HERE to read the 40 page (pdf) Preliminary Injunction.

UPDATE
A day after a Judge struck down Florida's Ban on Early Voting on College and University Campuses, the Gainesville-area Supervisor of Elections asked the University of Florida to make its Student Union available for Early Voting in the November General Election, including on a Day when the Gators have a Home Football game. In addition, Tampa's Chief Elections Official, Hillsborough Supervisor of Elections Craig Latimer, said he has begun talks with USF Leaders about holding Early Voting at the Marshall Student Center on the Campus.