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...
The Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights has announced a field hearing entitled “New State Voting Laws II: Protecting the Right to Vote in the Sunshine State” to be held Friday, January 27th at 1pm at the Hillsborough County George E. Edgecomb Courthouse, 800 E. Twiggs Street, Tampa,...
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...
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...
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...
The American Bar Association’s ABA Journal posted an interesting article today entitled “As Other States Watch, Florida’s Redistricting Fracas May Set the Lines for the Future. Apparently this will be in their June 1 printed edition.
Apparently, Miami-Dade County’s Supervisor of Elections office has decided that the Governor will be signing HB 1355 into law, as they have cancelled early voting for this coming Sunday. In response, Miami-Dade mayoral candidate Marcelo Llorente has filed suit seeking to reinstate Sunday’s early voting. If the Governor does sign the law, it will be...