Florida GOP House whips out sweeping and contentious "election reform" bill

[seafan]

Once again, the hard right is unleashing its fury against voting rights in Florida.

They have just unleashed a sweeping *election reform bill* over the objections of county elections supervisors and public interest organizations. This bill pushes many controversial measures aimed at changing election laws in the state, in the hard right GOP's ongoing assault on people's voting rights.

It began as a 14-page document and ballooned to 128 pages as of yesterday, all of this under the fabricated wedge-issue lie of "clean elections".


It is all about suppression of voter turnout. Nothing else.


Here are some of the more contentious changes to our election laws in this bill:



Sweeping elections-law overhaul clears committee

By JAMES L. ROSICA
April 1, 2011

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- Requires the Secretary of State, the state's chief election officer, to provide "direction and opinions" to the county elections supervisors.

- Requires voter-registration groups, such as the League of Women Voters, to register with the state, file regular reports and turn in completed voter-registration forms within 48 hours.

- Allows elections officials to remove deceased voters from the rolls immediately, instead of waiting seven days.

- Creates a $50-a-day fine for elections supervisors, to be paid out of their own pockets, if they are late turning in voter history and other reports to the state.

- Forces voters to use provisional ballots instead of regular ballots if they want to update their name or address in voting records at the polling place.

- Allows groups to run opinion polls for people who are considering running for office without having to later count those polls as campaign contributions.

- Prohibits approaching any voter waiting in line and giving voting advice, even if the voter is more than 100 feet from the entrance of the polling place.

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Michael Peltier at The News Service of Florida also reports:

April 1, 2011

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Among the most contentious changes is a provision that would provide a 100 foot buffer between voters standing in line and others trying to influence their vote. Current law sets out a 100 foot buffer from polling places, a limitation that backers of the bill say does not protect voters in busy precincts who are forced to stand outside and wait – possibly putting them more than 100 feet from the polling place. Critics said the new buffer could push partisans into traffic and into danger during particular well-attended elections.

The bill also removes a provision in place since the 1970s that allows registered voters to change their names and addresses in elections records on Election Day and still vote. The proposal would require those voters to cast provisional ballots instead.

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For petition gathers, the bill reduces the length of time signatures are valid from four years to two years and repeals the ability of petition signers to revoke their signatures.

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Ron Labasky, lawyer for the Florida State Association of Supervisors of Elections, said his group was concerned about the Secretary of State, who is appointed by the governor, telling elected county elections supervisors how to interpret laws or run their offices - especially if that governor is on the ballot.

"This is just partisan shenanigans raising its head again," said (Ion) Sancho, Leon County's six-term Supervisor of Elections.

And the hard right onslaught intensifies in Florida.

[The Backlash Cometh]

1. Pay very close attention to what they're asking for.

In this list you will not only find the things they want to curtail for the Dems, but more importantly, you will find the things they've abused in the past to steal elections.