A controversial Florida law threatens voter registration drives and early voting, which has a disproportionate impact on people who are more likely to move between elections. These voters are primarily people of color, low-income citizens, students, and the many Floridians who lost their homes to foreclosure. On Friday, the restrictive new law, HB 1355, received congressional attention when the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights held a field hearing on voting rights issues in the Sunshine State.
Denise Velazquez-Marrero, director of Florida 501C3 Civic Engagement Table says HB 1355 is nothing more than “legislative voter suppression,” a sentiment shared by the overflowing hearing room of citizens who roared in applause when anyone spoke against HB 1355. Indeed, the entire panel of witnesses—including Republican supervisors of elections Ann McFall of Volusia County and the one defender of the law, Michael Ertel of Seminole County— acknowledged that preventing voter fraud was not the motivation behind HB1355. McFall said “voter fraud is not out there.”
Voter registration drives that assist many minorities are being curtailed
HB 1355 subjects community based groups, volunteers, and teachers who assist with registration to fines of up to $1,000 if they do not turn in completed voter registration applications to their county supervisors within 48 hours. Before the law was enacted, they had 10 days to review and submit applications forms. Unfortunately, a teacher from Volusia county was reported to the Secretary of State because as she attempted to promote civic participation among her students, she made the mistake of taking a little over 48 hours to review her students’ applications for accuracy and completion before submitting them. Ironically, another individual was told their applications were late because Martin Luther King, Jr. Day–a federal holiday—was included in calculating the 48-hour deadline.
The law has had a chilling effect on community-based groups, canvassers, and volunteers because it imposes steep monetary penalties for even accidental infractions; decreases the time that organizations have to conduct quality control measures; and creates the need to do burdensome organizational paperwork in advance of the voter registration drive. Supervisor Ertel said that when he heard community based groups like the League of Women Voters were ending their voter registration efforts because of the law, he wrote an open letter, urging them not to end their voter registration drives. Ertel offered to send representatives from his office to assist the voters and collect the voter registration applications. However, it was pointed out that representatives from his office cannot reach all the community based groups especially as Election Day approaches and registration drives increase. Moreover, an election official taking over a group’s registration drive takes away their dignity and independence.
Community-based groups have a long history of conducting voter registration drives and these drives have been crucial for minority communities and have made the registration process more accessible to hard-to-reach populations. HB 1355 threatens the method by which many minority voters begin the vote registration to process. Project Vote made note of this in its written testimony:
“…[V]oter registration drives have assumed increasing importance in the life of every election cycle and are particularly relied upon by racial minorities seeking to register. The 2010 Current Population Survey indicates that minority citizens in Florida were approximately twice as likely to register to vote through drives as were white voters: 16.2% of African Americans and 15.5% of Hispanics, as opposed to 8.6% of whites.”
Early voting cut on the one day that large numbers of Black and Latinos vote early
Early voting was decreased from 14 days to eight days, eliminating early voting on the Sunday prior to Election Day that traditionally has had a significant turnout of Black and Latino voters due to churches that organize “Souls to the Polls” voter participation efforts. Even if one briefly entertains the untrue notion that limiting early voting is justified because early voting is underutilized and costly, why eliminate the one day that so many voters of color rely upon to vote?
Change-of-address should not equal change of voting eligibility
Floridians who are legally registered to vote in Florida and who have moved from one county to another have historically been able to update their address on Election Day. Yet, under the new law, Floridians who update their address on Election Day will be forced to vote a provisional ballot. This is particularly troubling given the fact that the majority of provisional ballots are not even counted for a number of reasons.
It was noted that that many college students move to new dormitories and have to update their addresses. As an alumna of Bethune-Cookman College, I was dismayed to hear from Supervisor McFall that she anticipates that Cookman students will have issues with their registrations and may ultimately have to cast provisional ballots.
Given the historic number of foreclosures in our state, a number of citizens who are already experiencing hardships may have to move from their homes and may not be able to update their address on Election Day. Thus, we must increase our efforts to assist these individuals.
Life of Petition Signatures is cut in half
HB 1355 shortened the life of a signature collected in a petition drive from four years to two years. This is makes it even more difficulty for organizations or individuals to create change in the law because by the time to they gather enough signatures needed, they may have to start over again.
Onward to defeat HB 1355
This bill has made the voter protection and voter registration work much harder, but the fight to defeat this voter suppression effort continues.
As senator Dick Durbin said, “the right to vote is preservative of all other rights,” so let’s stand up and preserve the right to vote so that every eligible American can vote and have their votes counted.