Florida restricts voter registration drives, some allege minority vote suppression

[telemann.livejournal.com]

In several states controlled by Republican state houses and governors, there seems to be a concerted effort to restrict voter registrations, or raise the bars for citizens to vote. Case in point: Florida was the deciding factor in the 2000 election, and in 2004 George Bush carried by a definitive margin.





New voter drives over the next four years set the pace: Democratic voter registration drives outpaced Republicans by 2:1, giving them a 650,000 edge that put Florida firmly in the Obama column very early on election night in 2008. Newly registered voters went Democratic by a 2:1 margin in 2008.





Demographics on voter registration drives show they tend to appeal to younger voters (students typically), minorities, and low income citizens. The Florida state house (controlled by Republicans), fast tracked a bill that made in nearly impossible for voter registration drives.

Registration groups will now have to pre-register every single volunteer or employee and turn in every registration form they get within 48 hours. And they’ll have to sign on to a new electronic database the state will set up to ensure that every voter registration group regularly submits updates on every registration card that every volunteer distributed at every registration drive they organized. Pre-registration means a student council member can’t swap in to take a turn to pass out registration forms without first signing a sworn affidavit, under penalty of perjury, with the state. The unbelievably tight turnaround time means that registration groups will be unable to follow up with voters who leave forms incomplete, and will incur high fines for going a minute over the deadline.

The penalties are harsh: 50 dollars for each application up to 1000 dollars for such drives. Not a big deal if you're a big corporation, but many of these registration drive groups simply can not afford risking such fines, and will forgo any drives. The new bill also restricts voter participation in other ways:



1. Florida has a longstanding policy permitting voters who have changed their address before an election to update their new address at the polls on Election Day, where the voters’ existing registrations are carefully cross-checked in a state database before the voters are given a ballot. This bill eliminates that right, so that voters who move between Florida’s 67 counties will not have their vote counted.

2. The bill also chops in half the number of days when Floridians can vote by reducing early voting days from two weeks to one. Since its adoption, Florida’s early voting has been a resounding success with both elections officials and voters. Early voting periods have helped to spread out the crush of votes that election officials have to process, making electoral rhythms more manageable. Voters who in the past stood in long lines at voting precincts have experienced some relief; now, they can expect those lines to balloon again.




The Florida legislature tried this once before in 2005: that law fined every registration worker $5,000 for any lost application, potentially wiping out the entire budget of the state League of Women Voters if just 14 forms were lost and forcing the group to stop registering voters for the first time in over 70 years. In 2006, District Judge Patricia Seitz struck it down for obvious reasons: that it was illegal to raise these sort of restrictions on voter participation, and unconstitutionally discriminated against third-party registration groups because it did not apply to political parties.


The effects are chilling already: the Florida League of Women Voters announced Monday it was halting its voter-sign up drives because a single late form could subject volunteers to financial and civil penalties. An injunction maybe sought by the group. Republicans in the state house said the bill is not meant to suppress minority voting, but instead it was meant to prevent any voter fraud. However, the Florida Department of State noted that “there were just 31 cases of alleged voter fraud” between 2008 and 2011, only two of which resulted in arrests. What’s more, “after the electoral debacles earlier in the decade,” Florida developed a database that allows poll workers to check if an individual already voted and to confirm voter identities. Hopefully the League of Women Voters will get this law overturned, like they did in 2006.

Rachel Maddow talks to Adam Skaggs from the Brennan Center for Justice about the implications of all this:

Comments

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

This is a state that elected a crook worse than the usual run of the mill crook knowing he was one. Florida doing this is no surprise. If they're willing to elect someone like Rick Scott, their state's going to continue acting like nothing's changed since the Sixties.

[telemann.livejournal.com]

I think if voter fraud was really an issue, Florida would have a Democratic governor and state house; the proof is in the eating of the pudding, huh?

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

Agreed.

[soliloquy76.livejournal.com]

Aren't Republicans always complaining about excess bureaucracy?

[telemann.livejournal.com]

Haha, good point ;)

[terminator44.livejournal.com]

Only when it doesn't work in their favor.

[raven-blue.livejournal.com]

I have to say that I actually dont support voter registration drives. A voter should decide to vote or not to vote with no help from any outside source. My reason for this is that voter registration drives like the get out the vote drive actually target voters within a specific voting demographic who are expeted to vote for one side, in the case of get out the vote it was endorsing voting for democrats. The Republicans do the same thing through conservative tea party sponsored voter registration drives.

The other issue you raise is interesting. On one hand I have no problem with requiring voters who move to give early notice in order to facilitate an easier transition. But of course we live in a fast paced world.

Here is the way I think it should happen.

1: No early voting. Vote with everyone else or dont vote at all.
2: Asentee ballots only for people who are working outside of the united states on national business. This would include soldiers. But no absentee ballots for someone who is a US citizen but who is living in another country. Come home to vote.
3: No voter registration drives. A person should register to vote with no outside help or hinderence.
4: No one currently serving in a voted or appointed political capacity should vote. In other words the President should not be allowed to vote, nor should a member of congress. By serving as elected officials their job is to legislate. There is too much risk of a congressmen voting for a candidate for future political favors.
5: A person should prove residency and anyone voting in a district they dont belong to, or who votes more than once or who votes under assumed names, etc should be given a strict prison sentence. Because that action directly hinders the free flow of democracy. It borders on treason in my mind.
6: A criminal who has served his time should automatically be given full voting rights.

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

Isn't that part of the point of democracy? The whole government of, by, and for the people and the way the system's worked since the 1780s?

[allhatnocattle.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, I don't understand why Americans register to vote in the first place. Isn't the primary right of citizenship the right to vote? Isn't that voter registration inferred with your birth certificate, passport or citizenship papers?

Agreed, one should prove current residency to confirm which state/district/county/city you are voting in. Secondly prove eligability with proof of citizenship. Both of these can be done quick and easy at voting station on voting day... not some excruciating long registration process.

[box-in-the-box.livejournal.com]

No early voting. Vote with everyone else or dont vote at all.

Good thing that there's no such thing as night-shift workers, single parents, people without cars or access to mass transit to take them to polling places, or anyone else in America who isn't privileged enough to take time out of their busy schedules during a work day to wait in line at a polling place.

But no absentee ballots for someone who is a US citizen but who is living in another country.

So if you're a civilian American citizen who gets sent by your company to live and work overseas for a while, then either you or your company needs to pay for international plane tickets for you to come home for a single day to vote.

No voter registration drives. A person should register to vote with no outside help or hindrance.

Yes, because if somebody is supporting their family on multiple jobs and/or on minimum wage, or worse yet, is among the millions of people nationwide who's spending all their time trying to find a job that they no longer have, I'm sure that every single one of them can take the time out of their schedules to study up on all the candidates and ballot issues on their own.

No one currently serving in a voted or appointed political capacity should vote.

I actually agree with this, but only because these people already have power and privilege, unlike the voters you're seeking to disenfranchise.

A person should prove residency [...]

To what standard of "proof"? I don't necessarily disagree with this in theory, except that just about every enforcement scenario I can envision would give certain states the power to disenfranchise the types of voters that their legislatures don't want to see at the polls.

A criminal who has served his time should automatically be given full voting rights.

This, I also agree with.

You actually raise a couple of good points, but I can't help but feel like you're speaking from position of privilege in terms of how blind you are to the real-life obstacles that many less-fortunate families (including my own, during our early trailer-park years) are forced to deal with.

[onefatmusicnerd.livejournal.com]

The most important American traditional voting practice, that has been done away with since the founding, is the oral ballot. It would make it much easier to detect fraud, as independent agencies and organizations could keep track of actual votes and double check against official records.

[gunslnger.livejournal.com]

I disagree with 1 and 2, but the others are fine.

[badlydrawnjeff.livejournal.com]

Quick correcton:

Florida has a longstanding policy permitting voters who have changed their address before an election to update their new address at the polls on Election Day, where the voters’ existing registrations are carefully cross-checked in a state database before the voters are given a ballot. This bill eliminates that right, so that voters who move between Florida’s 67 counties will not have their vote counted.

No, it doesn't. It means that voters who move will have to change their address prior to, as opposed to on, election day.

With that out of the way:

The bill also chops in half the number of days when Floridians can vote by reducing early voting days from two weeks to one. Since its adoption, Florida’s early voting has been a resounding success with both elections officials and voters. Early voting periods have helped to spread out the crush of votes that election officials have to process, making electoral rhythms more manageable. Voters who in the past stood in long lines at voting precincts have experienced some relief; now, they can expect those lines to balloon again.

This assumes early voting is actually something we want in terms of fair, clean elections. Having everyone come on one day is ideal for this, and that they still allow it for one week smells more of political expediency than bright governing in this case.

Republicans in the state house said the bill is not meant to suppress minority voting, but instead it was meant to prevent any voter fraud. However, the Florida Department of State noted that “there were just 31 cases of alleged voter fraud” between 2008 and 2011, only two of which resulted in arrests.

And? That's the beauty of voter fraud - it's likely that it happens without anyone noticing. A fake registration doesn't get challenged, then that fake registration votes and no one knows the better. Or worse, a lapsed voter is noted by poll checkers, and then that "person" comes and votes. Or even worse, someone moves away and doesn't update their registration, so it's never noted.

Of course, all these things could be dealt with if there was a strong ID requirement in Florida, but their current ID law is a joke (http://www.ncsl.org/default.aspx?tabid=16602#fl), so it's no surprise.

I do not understand for the life of me why people are so against verifiable voters and so against making sure the voter rolls remain clean and current. That nearly all of those opposed to those things are on the left is even more annoying, because it lends the suggestion that they somehow want these sort of holes to remain open.

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

Leave it to the libertarian to reject democracy and the concept that all votes are equal.

[telemann.livejournal.com]

No, it doesn't. It means that voters who move will have to change their address prior to, as opposed to on, election day. With that out of the way.

LOL, with *that* out of the way. I guess you blew over the fact it's been a long standing policy in Florida with apparently no trouble before, never mind voter registration records are computerized and cross checked on site. And that college students would be the ones most hurt by this since they move frequently. And the fact you have to do this within a specific time frame prior to the election, I think it's either 90 or 60 days. So if you have an emergency situation where you have to move, your S-O-L, huh? Under the new law, you'd be given a provisional ballot, but in most instances, they're not counted or when challenged are thrown out in recounts.

[nevermind6794.livejournal.com]

And? That's the beauty of voter fraud - it's likely that it happens without anyone noticing.

So we must protect against voter fraud because of the lack of evidence that there is widespread voter fraud?

[moonchylde.livejournal.com]

Thank you for remining me. I need to vote this weekend.

Here in OR, we have a mail-in ballot. We get it a few weeks before the election and can mail it back in the provided envelope a any time up until. Then on day-of, we can drop off at dozens of locations like libraries and post offices.

This method has been a huge success and is quite popular with the older citizens; no having to stand in lines. (Able bodied people don't even consider that issue.) Every ballot has your name and a bar code. Because they are paper, there is a trail. There is no issue with ID verification because you already have the ballot itself.

We can register online when changing our address with the DMV, or just via normal mail. Confirmation cards are sent to make sure you made the correct change/aren't being impersonated.

[allhatnocattle.livejournal.com]

Seems the democratic process is needlessly (over-)complicated down there. Voting is rather simple, as is eligability. I think if you went back to basics and agreed what you want to achieve, you would conclude the how rather swiftly.

[meus-ovatio.livejournal.com]

The GOP would be psychologically diagnosed with delusional paranoia about this whole "voter fraud" thing.

[blue-mangos.livejournal.com]

I have a question about voter registration in the US. Do you have to register to vote before you do so, and if so do you have to do it every time?

In Canada the first time you vote you take ID with you and proof of address and then you are automatically registered from there on out, they just send you a new voter card each election. If you've moved, you just do the same as you did the first time.

[badlydrawnjeff.livejournal.com]

I have a question about voter registration in the US. Do you have to register to vote before you do so, and if so do you have to do it every time?

You have to register to vote at least once. Each jurisdiction is different about renewal and such, but most places, as I understand it, won't purge you in a general purge if you've been voting regularly.

[onefatmusicnerd.livejournal.com]

The laws very state to state. But a state cannot require you to register more than 30 days before an election, and there it at least one state with same day registration. You must register every time you move. Before the 1990s some states required you to register in person with an official registrar, now it requires a mail in for most places.

[major-dallas.livejournal.com]

You do have to register before you vote, but the only time after your first registration you have to renew your registration is when you move. Despite that they want you to vote here in Texas, because I forgot to update my registration when I moved in 2006 and so when I went to vote in 2008, I had to go back to my old Voting Place, verfiy my name was on the Roll, sign a form stating I moved and to where and then voted right then and there. I was one of a dozen or so who had to do that at the time I voted.

[paedraggaidin.livejournal.com]

Between the evil that is Disney, rampaging hordes of saggy-pantsed youth, an apparent epidemic of Thomas Granger impersonations, and now this.... Spain can have it back!

But seriously, the current hostility to "voter registration drives" and assorted shenanigans that sometimes smack of the 1950s Deep South (right, Kansas? (http://www.kansascity.com/2011/04/18/2809790/brownback-signs-voter-id-law.html)) are disturbing.

Of course, in my darker moments I sometimes think those countries featuring enforced compulsory voting voting have it right...

[anfalicious.livejournal.com]

Our politics are far less beholden to groups who vote in disproportionate numbers like old people and fundies. Also note that voting is not compulsory, having your name ticked off the register is (and you can do that in many places, including postal, up to six weeks before the election etc.)

I don't understand the objection to compulsory "voting", all the arguments makes as much sense to me as the "tax is theft" arguments.