Florida Election Law

The latest in Florida Election Law issues, cases, legislation, and news.

A personal blog of

Ken Tinkler.

  

  

 

Copyright 2016 Ken Tinkler

4 Weeks until Primary Early Voting

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Yes, believe it or not, the Florida Primary (the primary for Congress, State and Local races, not the Presidency) will arrive soon, courtesy of early voting beginning on August 11, 2008.  This article reminded me that this will be the first large scale early voting in the larger Florida counties using paper ballots and optical scan equipment.  The most populous Florida counties had been using touchscreen voting machines since the 2002 election cycle; having left the punch card behind after that technology was decertified after the 2000 election.  How will voters react?  Will voters be surprised that the technology offered has changed for the 2nd time this decade?  Will the addition of optical scan equipment to early voting sites cause delays?

The last day to register to vote in the Florida Primary is July 28th, 2008.

Federal Judge upholds Florida 29 day voter registration requirement

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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 settled the case, agreeing to pay fees and to institute a “grace period” for voter registrations if such a change were allowed by law. To date, I am not aware of any such change.

Florida re-do of primary dead for now.

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The NY Times and other sources are reporting the Florida Democratic Party has given up on the idea of a new primary before the party’s summer convention.  Since the idea is still alive in Michigan, I’d be surprised if more discussion doesn’t happen, at least while the Florida Legislature is still in session.  The reasons given in Florida appear to be costs, ongoing change of voting technology, and the need to preclear changes under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. 

New Florida Presidential Preference Vote a possibility

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Since this issue is getting bipartisan attention, with the statements from the Florida and Michigan governors, I thought I’d start writing about it here.  As you know, the Florida Presidential Preference Primary was moved earlier this year.  As a result, the Democratic National Committee has reportedly stated the Florida vote would not count towards delegates at this summer’s convention.  According to reports, the Republican National Committee will only reduce Florida’s delegate count by 50%.  With the Democratic race still to be decided, the question of a new vote in Florida continues to come up in the media.   This will be interesting to watch as the Presidential Preference Primary is spelled out in statute – a repeat election could cause all sorts of challenges determining what rules to apply.  I’ll write more about the statutory issues as this debate goes on.