Today Project Vote joined 37 other national and Florida-based civil rights organizations–including the AARP, the Advancement Project, the ACLU of Florida, Common Cause, and the Lawyers’ Committee on Civil Rights Under Law–in urging Florida Governor Charlie Crist to oppose (and, if necessary, veto) proposed legislation that would “needlessly infringe on the voting rights of Floridians.”
The controversial bill, SB 956–and its companion bill HB 7149–would negatively impact voting rights in Florida through several “unjustified and harmful measures.” The proposed legislation would impose draconian restrictions on voter registration and petition drives, bar several free forms of ID from being accepted at polls, restrict early voting, and ban election protection groups from providing legal advice to voters at the polls. The omnibus “reform” bills are being pushed through “at the eleventh hour of the session with minimal public consideration or legislative deliberation.”
“Instead of fixing real problems,” the letter states, the bills would “disenfranchise eligible Floridians, for no legitimate reason and at significant taxpayer expense.”
Read the letter from voting rights groups to Governor Crist here.
Track these bills and other election related legislation at http://www.electionlegislation.org.