Florida Election Law

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

A personal blog of

Ken Tinkler.

  

  

 

Copyright 2016 Ken Tinkler

Preclearance surprise – State changes course and asks Federal District Court to approve HB1355

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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,… [s]ince the passage of HB 1355, we have seen misinformation surrounding the bill increase. By asking a court to rule on certain aspects of the bill, we are assured of a neutral evaluation based on the facts.”  Swift reaction from the bill’s detractors is being reported in an AP story on the Tampa Tribune site, and in a Sun-Sentinel story.  It appears from the Secretary of State’s news release that the USDOJ had issues with the HB1355 provisions related to early voting, 3rd party voter registration, petition signature verification, and address changes at the polls.

Protests and poltical committee litigation

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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 of many First Amendment/election law cases inspired by recent Supreme Court decisions.

Impact of Supreme Court Arizona PAC case quickly felt in Florida

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A 5-4 decision of the United States Supreme Court in Arizona Free Enterprise Club’s Freedom Club PAC et al. V. Bennett, Secretary of State of Arizona, et al. holding that Arizona’s matching funds law substantially burdened political speech and was not sufficiently justified by a compelling interest to survive First Amendment scrutiny quickly impacted Florida law.  As I wrote about back in August, then candidate Rick Scott had challenged the constitutionality of Florida’s matching funds law and a Federal judge had granted a temporary injunction as to provisions that capped Scott’s spending and gave his primary competition matching funds for any spending over that cap.  As noted by the Supreme Court, portions of Florida’s law were similar to Arizona’s.  The Orlando Sentinel is now reporting that, in light of the Supreme Court decision, the Judge has made his injunction permanent.

Preclearance objections filed & litigation update

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Numerous groups have reportedly filed objections with the Dept. of Justice regarding Florida’s request to preclear HB1355.  The Bradenton Herald has a report on three public interest groups’ objections.  Also online are objections from the ACLU Voting Rights Project and a letter from the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), the Florida Conference of Black State Legislators, and the Florida State Conference of the NAACP.  Meanwhile, the Florida Independent has posted documents from the litigation filed by the ACLU against the State.

Litigation begins over new Florida election law

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The ACLU of Florida has filed suit in the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Florida challenging implementation of HB1355 before preclearance is obtained.  At the same time, the Brennan Center has asked the Secretary of State to hold off on implementing HB1355 for the same reason, according to the Orlando Sentinel.  The Secretary of State’s Directive regarding the new law is also now online.