The Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights conducted a field hearing in Tampa today on Florida’s 2011 election law changes. The Subcommittee’s webpage has the printed witness testimony (links on the right side of the subcommittee page). The Tampa Bay Times and Bay News 9 (video) provide local...
With the Presidential Preference Primary on January 31st (plus many local elections on the same ballot) – the State has posted a list of all early voting sites and hours.
Florida is a “Closed Primary” state, meaning only voters who are registered members of the political party holding a primary election can vote in that primary election. Some cities, counties, and special districts, however, are also using the Presidential Preference Primary date to conduct other elections, such as referendums and other ballot measures. For...
In a letter this week, posted online by the Tampa Tribune, Sen. Dick Durbin responded to Sen. Bill Nelson’s request that the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights investigate HB1355 by agreeing with Nelson’s concerns and stating he will conduct a field hearing in Florida. No date for the...
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...
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.
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...
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...
Confused about where to vote? – look it up online at http://registration.elections.myflorida.com/
The Florida Governor vetoed HB1207, a recently passed election law bill. According to the bill analysis posted online, the bill would have reenacted and amended provisions related to electioneering communications and electioneering communication organizations (ECOs), revised provisions relating to use of local government funds for political advertising, and authorized the leader of each political...