Cross-posted at Florida Netroots
St. Pete Times writer Steve Bousquet has two must read articles regarding Republican efforts in both the House and Senate in the Florida Legislature to change the rules to restrict voting.
The first is an article about an elections bill in the Florida Senate: Last-minute push would create obstacles for voters.
Senate Bill 956 would do the following:
- Ban two forms of ID now allowed at the polls: retirement center and neighborhood association ID cards.
- Require voters who have moved to cast provisional ballots on Election Day. (They now can update their address at the polls when they vote.)
- Require groups that conduct voter registration drives to turn in signed voter applications within 48 hours. Paid petition-gatherers would also be forced to register.
- Allow legislators to form so-called leadership funds, which the Legislature outlawed in the mid 1990s as a fundraising abuse.
- Reduce from four years to two the life span of initiative petitions signed by voters.
Also of note is the fact that the Legislature is in the seventh week of a nine week session and until last Thursday (April 16) the bill read as follows:
A bill to be entitled
An act relating to elections; expressing the
legislative intent to revise laws relating to
elections; providing an effective date.
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
Section 1. The Legislature intends to revise laws relating
to elections
.
Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2009.
Now all of a sudden SB 956 is 83 pages. It certainly has the appearance of subterfuge.
The second article is about a bill in the Florida House: With little discussion, Florida House council passes sweeping changes to voting rules.
After shutting down public comment, Republican legislators in the House Economic Development and Community Affairs Policy Council passed the companion bill (download here) on Friday that would do the following:
- ban two forms of voter ID at the polls now used mainly by older voters: retirement center and neighborhood association ID cards
- require paid ballot-initiative circulators to register with the state
- require people whose addresses changed in the month before an election to cast provisional ballots
- prohibit anyone from interacting with voters in a floating 100-foot zone outside polling places
- make it more difficult for third-party groups to register new voters
- allow political committees registered in other states to be active in Florida without complying with the Sunshine State's campaign reporting requirements, which are stricter than other states
- Legislators would be allowed to create leadership funds to solicit large donations from special interests and lobbyists
- repeals a 2008 law that allows senators and others who hold a four-year term to run for a federal office without resigning
Contact you Legislators and tell them to vote NO on these bills.