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.
