Florida Election Law

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

A personal blog of

Ken Tinkler.

  

  

 

Copyright 2016 Ken Tinkler

11th Circuit Court of Appeals: 2012 Florida Voter Purge violated NVRA

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A three judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has concluded that Florida’s 2012 effort to remove ineligible voters was “an attempt to systematically remove names from the voter rolls in violation of the 90 Day Provision” contained in the National Voter Registration Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1973gg-6(c)(2)(A).

This order reverses the holding reported on this blog back in October, and comes after the State has apparently suspended their current systematic removal program.

The battle over absentee ballots

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Please forgive the lack of posts over the last few months, as my wife and I were a bit distracted by the arrival of our son!

Related to the political debate over the Florida 13th Congressional District Special Election, the issue of the use of absentee ballots became a flashpoint.  The two primary sources documents involved, are the Secretary of State’s Directive (the only directive of 2013, and the only one originated by the current officeholder) and a letter from the Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections, written in response.  News reports state that the two parties spoke and the Secretary decided to not pursue the issue further, but as of this writing the Directive remains in place.  What was in dispute was whether a Supervisor of Elections could have voters drop off their absentee ballot at a remote location that was not a typical elections office.  The State argued that “drop boxes” were not permitted.  Pinellas County argued the “drop boxes” were staffed by Deputy Supervisors of Elections, an audit trail was maintained, and the their goal was ensure that voters had more opportunities to participate in the process.

Legislation related to the issue was filed for this current legislative session, but news reports indicate the bill is presently on hold.  The legislative staff analysis cites the dispute and indicates that generally other Supervisors of Elections support their Pinellas colleague.  Putting aside the partisan accusations and arguements, the heart of the issue appears to be a very typical conflict in Florida- the issue of state control versus local home rule.

Early voting hours extended via a State of Emergency

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Per Executive Order 08-217, the Florida Governor extended early voting hours throughout Florida by declaring a State of Emergency.  The new hours are 7AM-7PM through Friday and then 12 hours on the weekend.  As before, the weekend hours will vary from county to county with some open on Sunday and other not.  Check your local Supervisor’s website for more details in your county.

Is this legal?  It happened in 2002 when the Governor then extended polling hours on primary election day to 9PM – the State Speaker of the House has questioned the action but says the Legislature will not challenge it.

So have people heard about this?  My personal experience is yes as the early voting site I drove by this morning had a line wrapping around the building at 7:25AM despite a 46 degree temperature.

No match, no vote controversy continues

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The lawyer for the Florida State Association of Supervisors of Elections has issued an opinion supporting the position of the Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections on the “no match, no vote” law.  This is a law passed back in 2006, but only recently made effective due to preclearance delays and litigation, that requires “If a completed voter registration application has been received by the book-closing deadline but the driver’s license number, the Florida identification card number, or the last four digits of the social security number provided by the applicant cannot be verified, the applicant shall be notified that the number cannot be verified and that the applicant must provide evidence to the supervisor sufficient to verify the authenticity of the applicant’s driver’s license number, Florida identification card number, or last four digits of the social security number.”  The dispute is whether this can be done by a pollworker calling in to the Supervisor’s office or only at the Supervisor’s office.  The Florida Secretary of State has published a summary of his position.