The issue of whether officials rightly refused voter registrations with unchecked boxes isn't decided - but won't be before Tuesday's election.
By Associated Press
Published October 27, 2004
[Times photo: Bill Serne]
Waiting on democracy: Charlotte Kendall stands at the front of the line along with other folks waiting to vote early at the Supervisor of Elections office in the 501 Building in St. Petersburg on First Avenue N and Fifth Street on Tuesday. At times, the wait was an hour long. On Monday, officials said 854 people voted. Early voting continues through Monday.
MIAMI - Florida election officials will not be required to process incomplete voter registration forms for this presidential election, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge James Lawrence King said the three prospective voters for whom the lawsuit was filed did not have the legal standing to pursue the case, which was backed by the AFL-CIO.
But he gave the union a chance to file a new version of the lawsuit next month with people who meet the standard.
That leaves the AFL-CIO and the Advancement Project, a social action group, on the losing side of an attempt to force officials to accept incomplete registration forms before the Nov. 2 election.
The forms were from people who signed to affirm their eligibility, but failed to provide an identification number, such as from a driver's license or a Social Security card, or check boxes affirming their citizenship, mental capacity and felony status.
Attorneys with the Washington-based Advancement Project said the plaintiffs would file an appeal by Friday.
The group argued that the rejections disqualified more than 14,000 potential voters across the state, with a disparate effect on minorities. Nearly 45 percent of the challenged forms in one county, Duval, came from blacks.
"Our goal is still to see if we can get relief for our clients before Election Day," said Sheila Thomas, an Advancement Project attorney.
The decision is the latest from courts across the state that rejected attempts to broaden voter rights on touch screen recounts, provisional ballots and early voting.
The union coalition sued Secretary of State Glenda Hood and elections supervisors in Duval, Orange, Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties.
