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.









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Rock the Vote Sues FL. Over New Voter Registration Law

Rock the Vote joined other civic organizations in urging a federal judge to halt implementation of the onerous voter registration law recently passed in the state of Florida.

This was the first hearing since Rock the Vote, the League of Women Voters of Florida and Florida PIRG filed suit to block the law in December. The law imposes new restrictions on community-based voter registration drives, including burdensome administrative requirements, onerously tight deadlines, and heavy penalties for even the slightest delay or mistake. The decision could have significant implications for the ability of thousands of Floridians – particularly young people – to vote this November.

“We are hopeful for a positive outcome that allows us to continue our civic engagement work in the community and throughout the state,” said Heather Smith, President of Rock the Vote. “As the nation's largest youth voter organization, Rock the Vote has dedicated more than two decades to educating and empowering young people to participate in our nation's democracy. Efforts like Florida’s new law prevent organizations like Rock the Vote from educating and engaging young people in our political process and go against the very principles our country was founded on.”

Florida law requires that every individual who helps people register to vote be certified by the state, and it requires them to submit each completed voter registration form within 48 hours as opposed to the 10 days previously allowed. Additional administrative burdens and risks of fines and criminal charges imposed by this law have resulted in a mountain of red tape with the cumulative effect of depressing, and in some cases preventing, community-based voter registration drives.

Attorney General Eric Holder singled out the law in December as an example of legislation that restricts Americans’ ability to cast a ballot. Indeed Florida’s law is just one of a wave of restrictive voting measures and proposals that threaten to reduce voter registration and turnout in 2012. Together, these laws could make it harder for up to five million people to vote this November, according to a report from the Brennan Center for Justice, Voting Law Changes in 2012.

The law’s restrictions have forced Rock the Vote to shut down voter registration programs in the state, including its student-led college programming and teacher-led high school civics education initiative. The League of Women Voters also ceased voter registration activity in Florida, with the result that community-based voter registration efforts have been severely impacted.

“These new voter registration requirements and the penalties for violating them are making it harder than ever to recruit volunteers,” said Anna Eskamani, a senior at the University of Central Florida. “We’re feeling the effects of the law already – and fewer volunteers means that many students won’t have the opportunity to register to vote.”

The attorneys representing the civic groups are with the Brennan Center for Justice, the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Florida, and leading pro bono law firms Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, and Florida-based Coffey Burlington.

“This law represents Florida legislators’ third attempt in six years to drown voter registration groups in regulation,” said Lee Rowland, counsel for the Brennan Center’s Democracy Program. “It is unfortunate that we have had to represent Florida’s leading voter registration groups, not once, or twice, but three times in fighting back against the Florida legislature’s repeated attempts to stifle access to voter registration opportunities.”

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. The lawsuit, filed in December, argues that Florida’s restrictions violate the U.S. Constitution or federal law in three main ways: (1) they violate Plaintiffs’ constitutionally protected rights of speech and association; (2) they fail to give individuals and groups fair notice of how to comply with its confusing and unclear mandates; and (3) they violate the National Voter Registration Act – a federal law designed in part to encourage community-based voter registration activity.









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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