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Election Reform Florida Style: We'll Only Disenfranchise Voters Who Are Blind, Elderly, Or Can't Read English!

If You Can't Read, Or See Your Ballot, That's Not Jack Latvala's Problem!

Also, voters of college age. But that's another bill Republicans are working on to block the vote in Florida.

Right now, awaiting a final vote in the Senate is HB 7013, which will make it harder for those who can't read English, are disabled, blind, or elderly to gain assistance when they attempt to cast their votes at the polls. In other words, if you thought the lines were long in 2012 and "election reform" was going to change that, than you are one of the pitifully optimistic. How quaint!

Today voting advocacy groups came out to once again cry foul, and rightfully so:

Under the change, sponsored by Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, a person seeking to assist a voter at the polls must already know the person, and no one may assist more than 10 voters in an election.

"These restrictions on assistors will make it harder to vote, particularly for many of Florida's Latino and Hispanic residents," the groups said in advance of a conference call with Florida reporters.  

The organizations included Florida New Majority, the Advancement Project, Service Employees International Union Local 1199, Florida Immigrant Coalition and Florida Conference of the NAACP. They said the Senate bill would disenfranchise voters who can't read English. Advocates cited Section 208 of the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965, which provides that a person who needs assistance as a result of blindness, disability, or the inability to read or write can receive assistance "from the person of his or her choice," provided it's not an agent or officer of the voter’s employer or union.

Latvala, echoing the cries over the non-existent problem of voter fraud for last year's changes that created some of the longest lines in the country, now says that assistance at the polls for these individuals are political tools ripe for abuse. 

That sounds more like projection from Republicans who naturally think of voter intimidation since they spend the majority of their time coming up with solutions to problems that don't exist, and figuring out ways to keep people who loathe them from voting for the other team.

They completely overlook facts, like not having enough people to assist those same voters last year, which added to the long lines. Naturally this year's solution: Cut back on the number of middle-assistance-men further and make those lines longer. Better yet, with any luck for Republicans, make sure those people just won't bother to show up at the polls at all.

Problem solved.

Florida Legislature's Newly Proposed Election Laws Could Cost Members Of The Military Their Vote

Under the guise of making changes to the voting laws they enacted last year that caused so many problems during the 2012 election, Republicans in the Florida Legislature are finding new ways to potentially suppress the vote in the next one.

This time it's a move that could cost members of the military, among others, their vote due to the potential for uncounted absentee ballots through additional paperwork and an easily overlooked witness requirement for signatures:

Latvala's [Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater] bill drew a rating of "B" from the League of Women Voters of Florida, whose president, Deirdre MacNab, called the bill "strong." She said the bill would be better if it repealed the 2011 requirement that voters who move from one county to another cast provisional ballots.

The Senate bill's most controversial provision remains a requirement that any voter who casts 
an absentee ballot has to get another adult to witness the voter's signature. "That is just a recipe for disaster," said Pasco County Supervisor of Elections Brian Corley. His sentiments were echoed at Tuesday's Senate hearing by elections chief Paul Lux in Okaloosa County, where, he predicted, the ballots of many military personnel would be rejected.

"There's  no tangible benefit to the voter, and this provision will result in more ballots being not counted for our military members," Lux testified.

Elections supervisors say this will likely result in numerous absentee ballots being thrown out if it passes. There's also the potential for lost votes not only from the military, but college students as well. The bill also falls short of increasing adequate days for early voting as promised.

Related articles

Surprise! More Voter Suppression Coming From The Florida Legislature

Statewide Rallies Make The Case For True Election Reform

Another Rick Scott Scandal, Gone But Not Forgotten

Florida Legislature's Newly Proposed Election Laws Could Cost Members Of The Military Their Vote

Wednesday Leftovers: Follow Scott's Money, Medicaid, Oil, Lizard People, Bongs, Bans and Bonuses

Did you know that  4% of voters say they believe “lizard people” control our societies by gaining political power, 5% of voters believe that Paul McCartney actually died in 1966, and that 5% believe exhaust seen in the sky behind airplanes is actually chemicals sprayed by the government for sinister reasons? They do. Scary, huh?

Those, and more conspiracy poll results are here, along with a few more Wednesday leftover news items:

If you want a clue as to what a second term for Rick Scott would look like for Florida's future, you can get some idea by following the money. During the first three months of 2013, Scott's "Let's Get To Work" fund brought in $4.6 million. Some of his biggest donors so far this year: Bill Edwards $500,000, Blue Cross Blue Shield $237,500, Florida Power & Light $250,000, H. Wayne Huizenga $250,000, Sheldon Adelson $250,000, and Donald Trump $50,000. If you have the stomach for it, the entire list is here.

Hillsborough County votes to look at banning assault weapons sales.

The House’s budget-writing committee passed its $74.4 billion spending plan by a 14-9, party line vote Wednesday, over Democratic objections to the refusal of ruling Republicans to include a federally funded Medicaid expansion.

Race and gender based abortion bills that failed last year are back again with no basis in fact to back them.

Another fake fiscal conservative: U.S. Rep. Steve Southerland, a Republican from Panama City, gave $26,000 in taxpayer money for bonuses to 16 of his staffers as he told the Panama City newspaper that the federal government is “spending money we don’t have.”

A renowned Canadian scientist says there appear to be similarities between fish deformities found downstream from Alberta's oil sands and those observed after the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska and Florida's Deepwater Horizon disaster.

The Colbert Report highlights Florida's Bong law.

Voter Restriction Bills so far in 2013, by the numbers from The Brennan Center.

Action:

Organizing For Action Immigration rallies planned for Thursday at the offices of John Mica and Marco Rubio. Details here.

In case you missed them:

Hutchinson's Claims Don't Add Up On NRA's "School Shield" Report

While Making Health Care Hard To Come By, Florida Lawmakers Would Provide Vaccinations For Creeping Sharia

Leftovers: Florida Turns 500, Or Not, Sugar Or Not, Scott Blunder, Legislative Re-Do, Election Laws, Nelson, Graham, Crist, West, BP, ObamaCare, And More...

As Florida turns 5oo today, or not, some Tuesday leftovers:

Oops. Hialeah and Miami-Dade politicians name a street after a sugar processing company, "Banah Sugar Way." Be careful what you wish for when naming a street after "white powder."

Self-proclaimed "fiscal conservative" crazy person Allen "Steadfast and Loyal" West (R-See Ya' Loser!) gave his staff 88% raises on his way out the door and out of office after the 2012 election.

Democrat Gwen Graham, daughter of former Florida Governor Bob Graham has announced that she will run for Congress, challenging Republican incumbent Rep. Steve Southerland who is now in his second term.

Another company lured to Florida by Rick Scott with "economic incentives" has gone south. BlueWare Inc., is being sued by the Brevard County Clerk of Court over an $8.6 million contract. 

From the Department of "Undoing Damage From Last Year's Legislative Session," today's episode involves the repeal of the year old requirement that foreign tourists obtain an International Driving Permit in order to drive legally in Florida, and more fighting over changes to last year's revamped voter suppression election laws.

The Florida House and Senate are poised to let the feds set insurance rates under ObamaCare.

Former First Lady of Florida, Carole Crist has regained custody of her children amid an ongoing battle with her ex-husband, Todd Rome.

The BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill trial resumed today, focusing on testimony from a Halliburton employee.

Sick turtles and dolphins in the Gulf, and more than 200 manatees have died in Florida's waterways since January from red tide, just as wildlife officials try to remove the marine mammal from the endangered species list.

Another house was condemned near the Seffner sinkhole that killed a man and was later filled.

Action:

Sen. Bill Nelson remains a holdout along with Republicans on marriage equality. Progress Florida and others are encouraging calls for Nelson to reconsider, and "evolve." Tweet @SenBillNelson or call him at (202) 224-5274.

Legislators & Students will Rally in Support of the “Florida Ban on Texting While Driving Law.” Representative Irving Slosberg and students from the Florida Virtual School to host a press conference at Noon Wednesday, April 3, on the 4th Floor Rotunda of the Capitol in Tallahassee. More information here.

And finally, a Tuesday cartoon from Jim Morin: Southern Strategy.

Why The GOP "Autopsy" Should Actually Be Called The "Government Outsourcing Project"

David Koch, Fleeing The Press At The RNC, Tampa 2012

(Photo: Martha Jackovics)

If you've read the GOP's "autopsy" of their losses in the 2012 election (re-branded as the "Growth and Opportunity Project") but haven't come to the conclusion that it's mostly nonsense just yet, this could do it for you.

One of the things that stood out for me was a small section buried in the Campaign Finance, and State Campaign and Finance Laws and Regulations recommendations. It's just a couple of sentences, but it's in conflict with a majority of the other recommended policies in the report. Or rather, what they would have people believe they want to do to woo voters.

Here's the snippet, which is listed twice, word for word, on pages 69 and 97:

3. Model legislation should be developed by interested organizations and state legislative leaders to improve state campaign finance laws. Organizations such as the RNC, the RSLC, and ALEC may wish to take a leading role. To turn ideas to action nationwide, experts should develop model statutes that can be replicated across states.

The two paragraphs are identical, almost as if they were a cut and paste job from something like, oh, I don't know, an ALEC "model" maybe?

If you're not already familiar with ALEC, that's the American Legislative Exchange Council, which is the corporate funded group who work with lobbyists and conservative politicians to write the "model legislation" that legislators then bring home to their states and pass into law. They get a large amount of their funding from the Koch brothers. (I've written more about them and their involvement in Florida here, here, here, here, here, and here, just to link a few of those posts.) ALEC has brought Florida laws like the Stand Your Ground gun law, election laws, and were behind many of the Amendments on the 2012 ballot. That's just a small sample.

ALEC largely operated in secret, and many elected officials passing off their cut and paste legislation did too. But when ALEC's behind the scenes operations were exposed to a little sunlight, corporations who had quietly worked with them began getting push back from activists, angry consumers and voters. Many of them quit working with ALEC because of it.

But there are plenty of those who still work with ALEC, lawmakers, and work "for" Koch, and not in the best interest of voters and consumers.

According to the GOP's new recommendations, they're practically saying they are fully prepared to hand over governing to ALEC, and the Koch's for a price. No more secret dealings. They're indicating right there in black and white for everyone to see that they're willing to sell out the country. "ALEC may wish to take a leading role?" There's no "may" about it. They want the whole ball game and the GOP knows that. They've already made a big investment as it is. 

Shamelessly outsourcing "Democracy." Welcome to the GOP's real model for America.

It's not like many of us weren't already aware that it was really the Koch brothers and corporate America who were pulling our elected officials strings, but this is blatant. It's like the GOP is saying: "Yeah, you actually elected the Koch brothers, corporations and lobbyists, and guess what? From now on we're just going to cut to the chase and hand everything over to them for a price. We're going to let them write any old law they want. Hey, it's not like we work for a living anyway, and we certainly don't know what we're doing. Now excuse us while we jet off for another taxpayer funded vacation." Boom. No pretense about it anymore.

And of course, who is behind a lot of the laws and policies that earned the Republican Party losses in the last few elections? That's right, all of the above.

So while they claim they're going to change their ways and tinker with their policies and their messaging, the biggest "message" of all is really contained in that one little paragraph found on pages 69 and 97. Combined with even more leeway in campaign finance laws, that pretty much cancels out the rest of the report as merely window dressing.

Any questions?

Surprise! More Voter Suppression Coming From The Florida Legislature

So much for those promises of "election reform" from Florida Republicans. Yesterday the Senate pushed even more restrictions on voting:

...the GOP-crafted bill has two major provisions that worry election supervisors: a requirement that anyone voting absentee must have an adult witness their signature, and a requirement that anyone who wants an absentee ballot mailed to an address other than their voting address must fill out an affidavit.

"This is going to impact seniors, students and our military voters," said Pasco County Supervisor of Elections Brian Corley. He predicted that the witness requirement would result in a surge of uncounted absentees because voters would not follow the new step.

In other words, they're "improving" on the voter suppression tactics from last year's "reform." More paperwork, and more hoops to jump through in order to exercise the right vote. Just what we needed!

In Florida, election reform means making it difficult for students, who tend to vote for Democrats, "supporting the troops" fighting for their right to vote by making it harder for them to do so, and saving seniors like 102-year-old Desiline Victor the hassle of waiting hours in long lines to vote by keeping her from lines altogether. Force her to spend all that time on endless paperwork instead. Problem solved!

Nice touch, GOP.

Democrats tried, but failed, to get some of what Republicans had claimed would be part of the new reforms:

Democrats tried to mandate 14 days of early voting at 12 hours a day, including the "Souls to the Polls" Sunday immediately before the election. That failed, and the bill calls for a minimum of eight days of early voting at eight hours a day.

...Democrats tried to add as early voting sites "any suitable location," and that failed too.

...Democrats tried to repeal a provision in law that requires out-of-county voters to cast provisional ballots on Election Day. 

So in sum, the GOP dominated legislature spent last year making it harder to vote, which did as promised, then Scott spent taxpayer money to "study" what went wrong, and upon the "discovery" of those errors, Republicans in the legislature are proceeding to build on last year's voter suppression tactics.

The more things change, the more they stay the same the worse they get.

Statewide Rallies Make The Case For True Election Reform

On the same day the Florida House voted on a bill to undo some of the changes made in election laws that caused the voting mess last year, which critics say won't do enough, Awake The State held "Free The Vote" rallies all across Florida to call attention to the need for real election reform.

The rallies were held to to "fight back against laws that left many Floridians waiting hours in line to exercise their right to vote," according to Awake The State:

"The point is to send a clear message to the Legislature that we want to see meaningful election reform during the legislative session," said Damien Filer, of Progress Florida, organizers of Awake the State. 

"The sad thing is that what we're really asking for here with most of these provisions is just to go back to the things were," he said. "We're not asking for anything new. We're just asking them to undo the damage they did in 2011."

Three key points, organizers said are 1) Expanding the number of early voting days back to 14 and allowing 12 hours per day while giving election supervisors more flexibility in opening new polling locations. 2) Reinstitute the 75-word cap on constitutional amendments proposed by the legislature, just as citizen-led initiatives are capped. 3) Voters should be able to update their voter registration address on Election Day if they move from one county to another, just as they could prior to 2011.

The bill  (HB 7013) approved yesterday with a vote of 118-1 doesn't go far enough, however:

It allows early-voting polling places at more kinds of sites, like fairgrounds, civic centers and convention centers. And it sets a 75-word limit on proposed initial ballot summaries to constitutional amendments.

The bill also restores the possibility of early voting on the Sunday before Election Day, when blacks often vote after church in a tradition known as "souls to the polls."]

[House Democrats said they wanted more in the measure, citing online voter registration, automatic voter registration upon renewal of driver's licenses and a path to restoring felons' right to vote.

But the bill as passed is "a good first step," said Janet Cruz of Tampa, the top Democrat on the House Ethics and Elections Subcommittee.

Rep. Dwayne Taylor, a Daytona Beach Democrat, did complain that the bill contains no money to allow local supervisors of elections to get better equipment and hire more staff for longer early voting at more places.

"We've got to allocate those dollars because they're going to need them," he said.

A companion bill (SB 600) is now in the Senate and covers many of the same provisions as the House bill.

At the Free The Vote rally at the Capitol, Senators spoke out against the election problems as well as Rick Scott's handling of them:

Senate Ethics and Elections committee member Sen. Jeff Clemens, D-Lake Worth, voiced his frustrations at the embarrassment of the 2012 elections at the Awake the State rally.

“What we are doing is not working and it didn’t work in 2012 when we had six, seven hour lines for people to be able to vote in the state of Florida,” Clemens said. “That is nothing less than criminal and frankly it disgusts me to see people walking around saying it wasn’t that much of a problem as we’ve heard from certain members of the House and certain members of the Senate.”

Rallies were also held in Palm Beach County, Fort Myers, Vero Beach, Jacksonville, Tampa, and other locations.

Related articles

Florida Enjoying National Recognition As Ground Zero Of Election Disasters (Again)

They've Only Just Begun: Rick Scott And Republicans Are Killing Florida

Statewide "Free The Vote" Rallies In Florida Tomorrow: Find One Near You

Can Rick Scott Proposed Voting Changes Be Trusted?

Statewide "Free The Vote" Rallies In Florida Tomorrow: Find One Near You

Tomorrow, as the Florida Legislative Session begins, Awake The State "Free The Vote" rallies will be taking place all over Florida to call attention to the election laws that made us a laughingstock, and made voting extremely difficult, if not impossible for many last November. 

In spite of Gov. Scott, and election officials claims to want to "reform" the laws that they created that caused the mess in the first place, their proposals so far don't go nearly far enough to correct the damage they've already done.

From Awake The State:

We're rallying in communities throughout Florida on March 5th, the opening day of the 2013 legislative session, to fight back against laws that left many Floridians waiting hours in line to exercise their right to vote. Together, we'll begin an effort to free our elections and ensure our middle class priorities are heard.

Click on this link to find the rally closest to you.

Let This Sink In For A Moment

(Photo: The White House)

On the same day when President Barack Obama unveiled the Rosa Parks statue in Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., The Supreme Court heard arguments that could throw out the Voting Rights Act.

I write "could," when it looks more like "will."

If you didn't think Conservatives wanted to take the country backwards before now, you shouldn't have any questions after this comment made by Justice Antonin Scalia in court today on Sec. 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965:

Scalia attributed the repeated renewal of Section 5 to a “perpetuation of racial entitlement.” He said, “Whenever a society adopts racial entitlements, it is very difficult to get out of them through the normal political processes.” 

Let that sink in for a moment.

A shocking statement to be sure, but considering the source, it shouldn't be.

(See the transcript here, and for context, see a more detailed discussion here.)

 

Bill Nelson Backs Bill That Would Prevent Long Lines That 102-Yr-Old Desiline Victor Had To Endure To Vote In Florida

In December of last year, following the disastrous election debacle in Florida, U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) filed a bill to limit long lines and wait times in states where people stood for hours waiting to cast their votes.

Today Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) signed on as a co-sponsor to Boxer's bill that will set a national goal of a maximum of a one-hour wait at any polling place during federal elections:

“In the interest of fairness and to avoid undermining the credibility of our elections, we should be making voting more convenient, not more difficult,” Nelson said in a press release today. “People should not have to stand in line for hours to exercise a basic right, not in a Democracy like ours.”

[The Boxer bill would require the U.S. attorney general to issue new national standards by Jan. 1, 2014 regarding the minimum number of voting machines, election workers and other election resources necessary to hold federal elections. And it would require that minimum standards take into account the number of eligible voters, recent voter turnout, the number of new voter registrations, Census data for each polling place and the socio-economic makeup of the voting population.

Meanwhile, one of those who waited in line for over three hours in Miami-Dade, 102-yr-old former farm worker Desiline Victor will be the guest of First Lady Michelle Obama tonight at the State of the Union address.

From the Advancement Project:

Desiline Victor, a 102-year-old woman from North Miami, will attend President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address tonight as a guest of First Lady Michelle Obama. During the 2012 elections, Victor waited in line to vote for three hours before wearily leaving her polling place and returning a second time. Her courageous story represents America’s determined voters, as well as a broken election infrastructure in need of serious reform.

Fixing the problems in the nation’s voting system, which contributed to outrageously long lines and wait times of more than six hours, will be among the themes of the president’s speech.

Born in Haiti in 1910, Victor is a naturalized citizen and retired farmworker who set out to take advantage of Florida’s early voting period last October. When she arrived at her polling place, a local library, on the morning of October 28, wait times were already up to six hours. Determined to cast her ballot, Victor stood in line for three hours until citizen advocates complained that the elderly woman struggled on her feet.

A poll worker asked her to come back later that day, assuring her that she would not have to wait then. On Victor’s second visit that evening, she was finally able to vote – and emerged from the building to wild cheers and applause from the crowd of waiting voters.

Judith Browne Dianis, co-director of Advancement Project, a civil rights group that met Victor while doing voter protection advocacy work, and brought her to Washington this week, pointed out that tens of thousands of other Americans did not get to vote, after facing similar problems at the polls. “Citizens who take responsibility to carry out their civic duty are still not guaranteed their right to vote in this country,” said Browne Dianis. “And while Ms. Victor’s determination to make her voice heard was heroic, she should never have had to wait in line for more than three hours to do it. These problems could be fixed with federal voting standards, including early voting and modernized registration, to ensure that elections are free, fair and accessible. Currently we have 123,000 different jurisdictions who run elections 13,000 different ways”

Gihan Perera, executive director of Florida New Majority, a statewide civil rights organization that recently released policy recommendations for election reform to the Florida legislature, said, “Ms. Victor represents the kind of heroines and heroes that we had in Florida, who, despite the legislative obstacles put in their way, came out in droves and exercised their human and constitutional right to vote. What needs to be done now is to honor those efforts by restoring the public confidence in our voting system and ensuring that democracy works for all.”

Local groups are planning a welcome home on Wednesday with signs, flowers and balloons at the airport where she is expected to speak along with community leaders  who are pushing for changes in Florida’s electoral system.