Florida Election Law

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

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A personal blog of

Ken Tinkler.

  

  

 

Copyright 2016 Ken Tinkler

Florida re-do of primary dead for now.

March 18, 2008 By admin

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. 

Filed Under: News, State Law and Opinions Tagged With: 2008, elections, florida, president, presidential primary, primary, voting rights

New Florida Presidential Preference Vote a possibility

March 6, 2008 By admin

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. 

Filed Under: News, Presidential Race, State Law and Opinions

Free stamps=bribe?

February 22, 2008 By admin

The Orlando Sentinel reports that one of the political parties mailed stamps to voters and told them to use the stamps to return their absentee ballot for the Florida House District 32 contest. The question is whether that crosses the line and constitutes a bribe under Fla. Stat. 104.061 or is of such nominal value that it does not cause a problem.

Filed Under: Local Cases, State Law and Opinions Tagged With: bribe, elections, florida, law, local government

Proposed bills for Election law changes

February 21, 2008 By admin

The Senate Committee on Ethics and Elections held a workshop on Wednesday to review several proposed election law changes. As covered in the Sun Sentinel, notable among these is a proposal to bar local governments from spending public money to run advertisements concerning an upcoming referendum. The bill is online at the Senate site and the workshop agenda packet is also available.

Filed Under: State Law and Opinions Tagged With: elections, florida, law, local government

Opinion issued on canvassing boards and computer room access

February 20, 2008 By admin

On January 28th, the State’s Division of Elections issued an opinion concerning public access to the ballot tabulating room. In short, the Division opined that canvassing boards could limit public access to the computer room used to tabulate votes as long as representatives of political parties are able to be in the tabulation room. The division added that if the canvassing board was conducting its work in a room that the public could not enter, either due to size or security, the canvassing board should “transmit the audio” from its work room to a place the public could listen in. The opinion is 08-01.

Filed Under: State Law and Opinions

Dual disqualifications in West Palm Beach

February 20, 2008 By admin

Both candidates for the District 3 City Commission race in West Palm Beach have been deemed disqualified because of election law errors. The challenger was disqualified for paying her filing fees with a personal check, while the incumbent had the wrong signature on her campaign account designation form. A special election is now likely, more in the Palm Beach Post.

Filed Under: Local Cases

Crawford v. Marion County Election Board

February 20, 2008 By admin

This is the State of Indiana Voter ID case – notable to Florida readers because of the identification requirements that have increased since the 2000 election and the passage of the Help America Vote Act. The Brennan Center has posted the Brief filed by 9 states including Florida. Brennan Center also has an online collection of other documents filed in the case.

Oyez.com provides a link to the online docket at the Supreme Court and usually has the Court’s argument audio file upon release.

Filed Under: Supreme Court Tagged With: election law, florida, indiana case, Supreme Court

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This is a personal web site offering commentary, not legal advice.  This blog should not be construed as legal advice on any specific facts or circumstances. The contents are intended for general information purposes only.  The publication of this blog is not intended to create, and receipt of it does not constitute, an attorney-client relationship.