Posted on 05/03/2008 4:24:50 AM PDT by fweingart
Florida is courting electoral trouble. Heading toward another presidential election, state officials are making it increasingly difficult for citizens to vote.
Thanks to state laws, national election experts are warning that Florida is one of the hardest places to vote. Recent court decisions and a lamentable move by Secretary of State Kurt Browning could make matters worse.
The potential result: Thousands of eligible Florida voters -- many of them poor, black and Hispanic -- will be prevented from having a voice in the November election.
Fining third parties
Among the objectionable election laws, one chills voter-registration drives by imposing fines on third parties, such as the League of Women Voters, if they fail to turn in registration forms quickly. Though the state previously had agreed not to enforce the law, recently Mr. Browning announced he would begin to do so.
He should rethink the decision. A previous version of the law was struck down as unconstitutional in 2006. Now the state is being sued again by the League. The suit argues that the law is unconstitutional. The law also targets minority voters, who are more likely to register to vote through third parties than through government authorities.
Another law known as the ''no match, no vote'' provision disenfranchises voters when information on their voter-registration application fails to match exactly with government databases. So a voter will be disqualified because of a typo in Social Security records.
Hispanic voters are unfairly impacted because there are relatively more database flaws among Hispanic names.
Government errors shouldn't stop anyone from voting. Four states have gotten rid of similar, unfair laws. Florida should follow suit.
Florida also is one of just seven states that require voters to provide photo identification at the polls. On Monday, the Supreme Court upheld Indiana's photo ID law, saying it was a valid means of deterring fraud. However, the ruling left room for another challenge that could demonstrate that the law unconstitutionally stopped eligible voters from casting ballots.
Right to vote
While Florida's law allows a variety of IDs, legislators are considering a bill (S 866) that would make it more restrictive by eliminating buyer's club cards and employee badges. That would be wrong.
Ensuring electoral integrity is critically important. Equally sacred is the fundamental right to vote of every citizen. Unfortunately, many of Florida's restrictive voting laws, approved in recent years by the Republican-led Legislature, disproportionately impact the poor and minorities who lean toward the Democratic Party. The state should make every effort to encourage voters, not block them for partisan reasons.
WORLD ENDS TOMORROW. BLACKS AND HISPANICS HARDEST HIT. The left will never lose the utter contempt it has for the intelligence of the American people until we finally stand up and take back our nation and our rights.
Only 3.75 million people were able to beat the anti-voter system and cast a ballot in the recent primary. What a disgrace! Just what is it about these rare but very persistent people that makes them able to vote while so many others can't??
..especially if you can't find your a$$ with both hands.
Twenty five years in Jacksonville, and I’ve never had a single problem voting...just lucky I guess.
“The law also targets minority voters, who are more likely to register to vote through third parties than through government authorities.”
WRONG. It targets third party activist groups who are more likely to recruit minorities than other segments of the population. And in an effort to recruit new “first time voters” they get sloppy and sign up voters who are inelligible to vote.
Does it permit felons to exercise their constitutional right to self-defense by keeping and bearing arms?
If the court system can strip your consitutional rights, it can certainly lift your right to vote.
A “typo” in SS records? How about fraudulently using a stolen Social Security number?
All animals’ votes are equal. Some are more equal than others. But REMEMBER, don’t question their patriotism or whether they support the troops...
And then they hold the registrations until the last minute, overwhelming the county registrar's office and increasing the chances they won't be checked against any database.
Why is this such a big deal. The poor get welfare checks. They ran to the welfare office, next time they want their check, they register to vote and get an ID.
There was Motor Voter. Go to the DMV, register and get your ID.
Want Social Security? Go to the SS office, register and get your ID.
In a nursing home? Well ACORN already proved that you can send out people to register. This time have students who are looking for extra credit in school to go to nursing homes with laptops and register the elderly to vote. And yes, print them out an ID.
What is so difficult? 26 million Afghanis voted. And they had to travel by horse,, goat, llama to get to a polling place.
So in effect, why even vote if you are a rat!
This is ridiclous. Florida is the easiest place for a legitimate voter in the world.
I voted in the primary early. I was driving, saw the big sign in front of the library. Drove in, there was a big sign pointing to a special room where several elderly, smiling people helped me. Went to the table, showed my id card (didn’t have a licence at the time) no line, went and voted, got my sticker.
It was far easier than the chaos and lines in NY. This is all a red herring to psych up the paranoid left.
They should set up their polling places in cemeteries and hospital ERs. Most of their voters frequent these two places.
Here in FL, I remember after 2000 the Democrats were screaming that people had been disenfranchised. So our congress had hearings they were on local tv. The democrats brought in tons of nuts who were convinced they were being disenfranchised, but when it came down to it, they had all voted!
They also had a local interview on TV of an elderly black man who had been bused in to vote complaining that he voted for Buchanan by mistake because he “punched the second hole, just like he was supposed to”. I won’t forget that. Wish I had a copy of that.
no matter what they do, florida will screw up the election again somehow. i have faith
That is VERY interesting.
“They also had a local interview on TV of an elderly black man who had been bused in to vote complaining that he voted for Buchanan by mistake because he “punched the second hole, just like he was supposed to”. I won’t forget that. Wish I had a copy of that.”
Let me tell you what ‘really’ happened in Florida in 2000.
I’ve a good friend who owns a condo near Miami. He told me that his building was infested with a bunch of up north democrats who were holding meetings, knocking on doors, all the get out the vote stuff. These “condo commandos”, as they called themselves, also passed out a ‘voting guide’ that explained how to vote for Algore. This ‘voting guide’ was quite detailed. Kind of a ‘punch the second spot on the third page’ thing. Evidently, this kind of activity along with the ‘voting guide’ was very widespread in the Miami area.
Turned out, these “condo commandos” outsmarted themselves. They had used a draft ballot in preparing the ‘voting guide’ and the final ballot had significant changes. The biggest being was, if you followed the ‘voting guide’, you voted for Buchanan and not Algore. These democrats tried to get out a new one but were not completely successful.
Now, I don’t know this to be true but I do have every reason to trust my friends explanation. He’s a pretty sharp dude and a staunch conservative. It is very consistant with what happened and also provides a fairly good explanation for several otherwise unexplained things.
First, this is how those folks knew they had voted for Buchanan instead of Algore. They followed the ‘guide’.
Second, it explains why the democrat party was already contacting people with a ‘You may have voted for Buchanan, sign our petition’ phone calls even before the polls closed.
Third, this is why Algore wanted to focus the recounts on the greater Miami area.
While the ‘voting guide’ was illegal, it wouldn’t do for the GOP to raise this issue since it would be admitting that many did vote for Buchanan while intending to vote for Algore. And, of course, the dems certainly wouldn’t want to admit they violating the law.
That was Michael Dukakis' big issue. He wanted all prisoners and felons to have the right to vote.
If I recall correctly, this guy was from the Miami area. I have no doubt he was one of the people your friend told you about.
Well, we in Ohio are going to try to top FL in screw ups!
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