A Victory for Voting Rights: Florida’s Voter Suppression Law Blocked by Federal Court
A victory for voting rights out of Florida this week: a federal court in Tallahassee blocked key provisions of the state’s new voter suppression law
which discourages voter registration drives. The new law is so extreme
that groups such as The League of Women Voters stopped registering
voters entirely, and two teachers were threatened with fines for registering students in their classrooms under the guise of cracking down on ‘voter fraud.’
The ACLU, along with a coalition of civil rights groups, represents
The League of Women Voters, Rock the Vote and other impacted groups in a
constitutional challenge to the law, arguing that restricting the
rights of individuals and organizations to engage in the political
process without a compelling state interest was a violation of the First
Amendment. The judge agreed: “soliciting an application [to register to
vote] is core First Amendment speech.”
Florida leaders didn’t see it that way. Here in the Sunshine State, manipulating elections has taken priority over free speech.
The judge also wrote, “The short deadline, coupled with substantial
penalties for noncompliance, make voter registration drives a risky
business. If the goal is to discourage voter registration drives and
thus make it harder for new voters to register, the 48-hour deadline may
succeed.”
Clearly, as we have argued from the very beginning, the new law
aims to make it harder for people to register to vote. And limiting
opportunities for voters to register has a real impact on both the people who do voter registration as well as the voters and communities they engage.
Listen to Denese’s story here [Podcast].
Other parts of the law make it harder to vote and harder to have
your vote counted. Those provisions are under review in another ACLU
case; this case is before a federal court in the District of Columbia
and will determine whether the changes are in violation of the Voting
Rights Act because of their disproportionate impact on racial and
language minorities.
The most recent news on Florida’s voter suppression efforts is the
state’s attempt to remove legally registered voters from the voting
roles. Does our state know no shame? Voting is the cornerstone of our
democracy, and yet lawmakers continue to try and make the process as
burdensome as possible.
Thursday’s ruling is a victory for voting rights and a significant
step in safeguarding the constitutional protections in Florida’s
election procedures. We will continue to stand vigilant, fighting to
protect our most fundamental right.
No comments:
Post a Comment