Two updates this week related to past stories on this blog. As explained in the Palm Beach Post, the ACLU and League of Woman Voters challenge to the implementation of HB1355 was dismissed as moot and for a lack of standing and ripeness. The District Court found that most of the law had been precleared...
Federal cases in Florida
Florida challenges the Voting Right Act
A surprising development in the preclearance saga of HB1355, the State has filed a First Amended Complaint seeking to have the court declare the preclearance obligation in Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act unconstitutional. To recap my past posts on this topic: under the Federal Voting Rights Act, the State of Florida has to...
Voting Rights Act/HB1355 litigation update
Interesting story out of the Florida Keys today related to local Supervisors of Elections getting involved in the Voting Rights Act litigation involving HB1355. The memorandum in support of the motion to intervene that includes the Supervisors, the ACLU, and Project Vote is also online.
Preclearance surprise – State changes course and asks Federal District Court to approve HB1355
Here’s the quote from the Secretary of State’s news release: “The purpose of filing in the federal district court is to ensure that the changes to Florida’s election law are judged on their merits by eliminating the risk of a ruling impacted by outside influence,… ince the passage of HB 1355, we have seen...
Protests and poltical committee litigation
The St. Pete Times is reporting on a protest yesterday in Tampa related to HB1355. Meanwhile, the AP & Miami Herald are reporting on a hearing today related to a libertarian group challenging Florida’s political committee regulatory structure. The plaintiffs’ counsel has a summary of their suit on their website. It appears to be one...
Impact of Supreme Court Arizona PAC case quickly felt in Florida
A 5-4 decision of the United States Supreme Court in Arizona Free Enterprise Club’s Freedom Club PAC et al. V. Bennett, Secretary of State of Arizona, et al. holding that Arizona’s matching funds law substantially burdened political speech and was not sufficiently justified by a compelling interest to survive First Amendment scrutiny quickly impacted Florida...
Challenge to Florida’s campaign finance laws
The Federal 11th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court’s ruling and entered a preliminary injunction barring the State of Florida from releasing funds to one of the candidates for Governor under the excess spending subsidy of section 106.355. This section of the campaign finance portion of the Florida Election Code provided for...
America Votes! Supplement
I contributed a chapter to the American Bar Association to the America Votes! Supplement – just published today.
DOJ settles Osceola School Board Voting Rights Case
The U.S. Department of Justice has announced it has settled with Osceola County, resolving a challenge to the county’s School Board districts under the Voting Rights Act. Last week, according to the Orlando Sentinel, the School Board adopted the new districts enhancing the chances of electing a Hispanic candidate for the first time.
Federal Judge upholds Florida 29 day voter registration requirement
The Miami Herald is reporting that the requirement in Florida that voters register 29 days before an election was held to be reasonable and not imposing a severe burden on constitutional rights by a Federal Judge in Miami . The Elections Supervisors (Broward, Duval, Miami-Dade, Orange, and Palm Beach Counties) in the case previously...