CURBING VOTES
Fla. inks law, rights groups cry bias & sue
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis enacted a range of controversial voting restrictions Thursday that he and other Republicans claim will provide safeguards against election fraud, prompting several civil rights groups to file lawsuits alleging the new law aims to suppress Black and Latino voters.
The legislation, which passed Florida’s Republican-controlled state Legislature last month without any Democratic support, was signed into law by DeSantis on an “exclusive” Fox & Friends live broadcast in Palm Beach, home to former President Donald Trump. Other media outlets were not allowed to attend.
“Right now I have what we think is the strongest election integrity measures in the country,” DeSantis, a key Trump ally, said while putting his signature on the bill.
Inspired by Trump’s false claim that the 2020 election was marred by fraud, DeSantis is the latest red state governor to adopt restrictions on the auspice that it will make voting safer. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, whose state Legislature is also controlled by Republicans, signed a similar bill into law last month.
Still, to date, no evidence has emerged to suggest that widespread election fraud is occurring anywhere in the U.S.
Democrats and voting rights groups argue that there’s a more nefarious reason why Republicans are erecting new barriers to voting.
As the ink was still drying on DeSantis’ bill, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and Common Cause filed a federal lawsuit in Tallahassee arguing that the new law is unconstitutional and designed to disenfranchise Black and Latino voters — demographics that traditionally support
Democrats.
“For far too long, Florida’s lawmakers and elected officials have created a vast array of hurdles that have made it more difficult for these and other voters to make their voices heard,” the groups said in their lawsuit.
The Women Voters of Florida, the Black Voters Matter Fund and the Florida Alliance for Retired Americans piled on and filed another federal lawsuit making a similar argument against the new restriction.
“The legislation has a deliberate and disproportionate impact on elderly voters, voters with disabilities, students and communities of color. It’s a despicable attempt by a oneparty-ruled legislature to choose who can vote in our state and who cannot. It’s undemocratic, unconstitutional, and un-American,” said Patricia Brigham, president of the League of Women Voters of Florida.
The freshly adopted Florida law — which passed the Legislature without Republicans being able to cite any specific instances of fraud — restricts when and how drop boxes can be used for absentee ballots, which were predominantly cast by Democrats in the last election cycle. The boxes, for instance, can now only accept ballots when election offices and early voting sites are open.
Similar to its Georgia equivalent, the Florida law also institutes a 150 feet “no-influence zone” around polling places, making it a crime to give food or drinks to voters standing in line.
Additionally, the package of restrictions mandates that if a voter wants to make changes to registration data they have to provide official identifying documentation, such as a driver’s license or a Social Security Number. Critics say such restrictions disproportionately impact Black and Hispanic voters.