Calling the portion of the new law “harsh and impractical,” a Federal Judge has granted a motion for a preliminary injunction concerning the part of Florida’s HB1355 that required third party group to turn in voter registration applications within 48 hours.  (Order courtesy of the Palm Beach Post.)

“Under the First and Fourteenth Amendments, an election-code provision of this kind must serve a legitimate purpose that is sufficient to warrant the burden it imposes on the right to vote.  And under the National Voting Rights Act, an organization has a federal right to conduct a voter-registration drive, collect voter-registration applications, and mail in the applications to a state voter-registration office. The Eleventh Circuit so held in Charles H. Wesley Education Foundation, Inc. v. Coxx, 408 F.3d 1349 (11th Cir. 2005). But § 97.0575 and Rule 1S-2.042 severely restrict an organization’s ability to do this.  The statute and rule impose a harsh and impractical 48-hour deadline for an organization to deliver applications to a voter registration office and effectively prohibit an organization from mailing applications in. And the statute and rule impose burdensome record-keeping and reporting requirements that serve little if any purpose, thus rendering them unconstitutional even to the extent they do not violate the NVRA. The statute and rule include other provisions that are constitutional and do not conflict with the NVRA; a primary injunction barring enforcement of those provisions is denied.”

Very interesting report developed by Dr. Susan MacManus, an expert in Florida politics who teaches at the Univeristy of South Florida, detailing the demographics and distribution of Florida’s registered voters.