Politics

Feds review Fla. voting laws

Hillsborough is among five counties where minority voter rights are under scrutiny.

By STEVE BOUSQUET, Tallahassee Bureau Chief
Published November 8, 2007

TALLAHASSEE - The U.S. Department of Justice is reviewing the latest changes to state election laws to make sure they don't impede voter registration drives or violate the rights of minorities in Hillsborough and four other counties.

The changes were approved by the Legislature in its regular session last spring and would take effect statewide in the presidential preference primary and property tax vote on Jan. 29.

Among other changes, the 80-page bill HB 537 reduced the forms of photo ID that are acceptable at the polls and narrowed from three days to two the time a voter can prove their eligibility after casting a provisional ballot.

Those changes remain under review. Florida must prove to the federal government that the changes do not deny or abridge the right to vote to minorities in five counties with past patterns of discrimination. (Besides Hillsborough they are Collier, Hardee, Hendry and Monroe.)

This process, known as pre-clearance, is often routine. But in an Oct. 29 letter, John Tanner, chief of the Voting Rights Section, said information sent by the state is "insufficient" to determine how the new law affects third-party groups that register voters, the acceptance of voter registration forms, the forms of ID accepted at polls and provisional ballots.

Secretary of State Kurt Browning, the state's chief elections official, said Wednesday he did not attach much significance to the federal government's latest request.

"I don't make too much out of it," Browning said, "other than they want to make sure that the procedures the Legislature adopted in May do not discriminate or preclude someone from their right to register and then cast a ballot."

The federal action was hailed by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, which has been critical of Florida for what it views as imposing additional barriers to voting in the Sunshine State.

"In an election year, it is especially important to make sure that Florida's voting laws do not unduly restrict the ability of eligible voters to participate in elections," said Renee Paradis, counsel to the center's democracy program.

Two months ago, the Brennan Center wrote to Voting Rights Section chief John Tanner, arguing that recent changes to state election laws will "seriously jeopardize" voter registration drives in which minority voters are more likely to register to vote.

The Voting Rights Section wants to know, for example, what steps "will and have been taken" to inform voters that two forms of photo ID are no longer acceptable at polling places.

Those two forms of ID are employee badges and buyer's club ID as valid forms of identification at the polls.

Among the other data sought by federal officials is the number of voters registered, by race, by third-party groups, and by all other methods of registration, such as in driver license offices, in the five counties for each year between 2001 and 2007.

Dianne Wheatley-Giolotti of Palm Harbor, president of the League of Women Voters of Florida, said the federal government's demand for more information was "wonderful" and said: "It's a way to bring to the forefront the fact that there are several barriers to voting in Florida."

Browning said the practical deadline for federal approval of all changes is Dec. 31, the last day to register to vote to be able to cast a ballot in the Jan. 29 election.

Steve Bousquet can be reached at bousquet@sptimes.cm or (850) 224-7263.

[Last modified November 8, 2007, 00:35:39]