LWVOC Blow By Blow Blog

Browning, Gaetz cut early voting deal

OrlandoSentinel.com   Aaron Deslatte   April, 27 2011

TALLAHASSEE – Senate leaders plan to amend a controversial elections bill to shrink Florida’s 14-day window for early voting to eight days but allow most counties the option of keeping the polls open longer hours.

Early voting locations would have to stay open 12 hours over the eight days in Florida’s two most populated counties, Miami-Dade and Broward, under language being written by Secretary of State Kurt Browning’s office.

All other county election supervisors would have the “flexibility” to keep their early voting sites open 12 hours daily over the eight-day period. Current law allows a 14-day early voting window, with polls allowed to be open only eight hours daily and a maximum of eight hours over the weekends — so, allowing the sites to stay open 12 hours over eight days would give supervisors and voters the same 96 hours to cast and process ballots.

“The expansion to 12 hours is going to make it a lot easier for working families, and particularly in my area, for military families,” said Sen. Don Gaetz, whose Panhandle district includes Crestview, a bedroom community with many employees who commute to Eglin Air Force base.

Gaetz said he had an agreement with Democratic Sens. Gwen Margolis of Miami and Chris Smith of Fort Lauderdale to co-sponsor the amendment when the elections bill reaches the Senate floor.

The elections bill, SB 2086, would overhaul Florida’s elections process by making it harder for people who have changed their address to cast regular ballots at the polls, placing new requirements on voter-registration groups, and cutting Florida’s 14-day early voting period in half.

A similar elections bill has already cleared the House.

Democrats and elections groups have called the measure an attempt to disenfranchise younger and poorer voters who flocked to vote early in the 2008 presidential election.

And Browning — who served for nearly four years as former Gov. Charlie Crist’s chief elections administrator and returned to the job under Gov. Rick Scott – said he shared the concerns of election supervisors that condensing the period for early voting could lead to longer lines in next year’s presidential contest.

“Based on the ‘08 turnout, it appears to be problematic to me,” Browning said on Wednesday. “Because if that turnout repeats itself in 2012, when you have fewer hours, you’re literally funneling a larger amount of people into a smaller amount of time.”

Since early voting began in Florida in 2004, there’s been no evidence it actually increased voter turnout, although it has definitely proven a popular convenience for voters. In the 2008 presidential election, 2.1 million Floridians voted early.

Last year, Republicans actually won the early voting turnout battle for the first time.

“I’ve always looked at it like a pressure valve,” Browning said. “If we had not had early voting in 2008, I would not have been standing up there on that Wednesday morning, crowing that we had a great election yesterday.”

Election reform bill moves forward in Senate

Sarasota Herald Tribune  April 26, 2011  by Zac Anderson

 

Senate leaders moved ahead Tuesday with major election reforms that curtail early voting days, make it more difficult for third-party groups to register new voters and ban most voters from changing their address on election day.

Democrats continued to fight the new rules as partisan-inspired attacks designed to suppress Democratic voters. Republicans said the changes will cut down on voter fraud and save money.

The bill passed the Senate Budget Committee on a party-line vote with one Republican, Sen Mike Fasano of New Port Richey, voting against the legislation.

Some members of the audience complained loudly at the end of the committee leading that chairman JD Alexander, R-Lake Wales, only allowed two minutes of public testimony.

Companion legislation is moving forward in the House.

League opposes court overhaul central to budget deal

by John Kennedy | April 26th, 2011 | Palm Beach Post

The League of Women Voters of Florida weighed-in Tuesday opposing the House-Senate budget deal that includes asking voters next year to overhaul the state Supreme Court.

“The constitutional amendment you are proposing to put before the voters of Florida is an attempt by one branch of government to control another,” wrote Deirdre Macnabb, League president. “Your constituents deserve better.”

House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, has insisted on a proposed ballot amendment that would add three justices to the Florida Supreme Court and divide it into two divisions, criminal and civil. The move emerged after justices last year erased three proposed constitutional amendments approved by lawmakers — saying the ballot language was unconstitutionally misleading.

The Senate had ignored Cannon’s push — approved by the House in a party-line vote earlier this month. But when the Senate budget committee reversed and approved Cannon’s idea Monday, the ice-encrusted budget talks suddenly thawed.

“We need to show, that we’re going to work together,” said Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island. “I listened to the speaker, and I found out it was important to him and his members.”

LWVOC Immigration Committee

By Jeannine Walsh

Hope Community Center in Apopka hosted an informational meeting last week, which included members of the LWVOC Immigration Committee and a number of community groups.

Information about current bills before the Florida Legislature was presented. The consequences and details of these bills clearly struck a note with members of the audience. They were eager to take part in plans to stop an Arizona-type immigration bill becoming law in Florida.

Letters and visits to Florida senators and representatives have already started. The attendees divided into small groups to plan actions in the coming months to inform their memberships and communities of the facts about immigration in Florida. Enthusiasm and a spirit of camaraderie filled the room as all held hands and joined in a circle at the end of the meeting.

 

April Hot Topics: The Fight for Open Government

By Ann Hellmuth and Sara Isaac

 

The subject was “New Governor - New Rules: The fight for open government,” and three First Amendment experts didn’t pull any punches in warning that Florida’s public records law is under siege in Tallahassee.

 

“I’m mad as hell,” Orlando Sentinel government/politics editor Bob Shaw told a packed LWVOC Hot Topics luncheon on April 13. “...The [Gov. Rick] Scott administration has turned the public records law on its head.”

 

Shaw, a board member of the First Amendment Foundation, a non-profit open government watchdog, said the governor admits to taking full advantage of provisions in the public records law that allow government agencies to set “reasonable” fees and to take a “reasonable” amount of time to fulfill public records requests. Reasonable is undefined by law.

 

Under former Gov. Charlie Crist, Shaw said, reporters’ requests for documents were routinely fulfilled the next day at no charge. But under Scott, most requests are first shuttled to an attorney or high-level official for review. As a result, fees have skyrocketed and even simple requests can take months to fulfill.

 

The governor’s “policy of charging for a review has spread to every executive agency” in state government, Shaw said. He said newspaper editors are already talking to law firms to “see what we can do about potential action.”

 

Children’s advocate and former state legislator Dick Batchelor, also a member of the First Amendment Foundation board and head of Dick Batchelor Management Group, a policy planning and consulting firm, warned of the need to keep a “closer eye on the session.”

 

Legislation that would radically change the makeup of the Florida Supreme Court, allowing the Senate to confirm judicial appointments, is moving rapidly through the Legislature, Batchelor said.

 

“The Sunshine Law is being ignored,” he said.

 

Rachel E. Fugate, a Tampa-based attorney for Thomas & LoCicero who has argued open government matters in courts throughout Florida, said “citizens have the right to know what their government is up to.”

 

But the complexity of Florida’s open government laws, in addition to the explosion of communication in the digital age, can make it difficult and expensive for citizens to enforce that right, Fugate said.

 

A bill filed last year by Lakeland Sen. Paula Dockery and Rep. Clay Ford of Gulf Breeze would have streamlined and simplified Florida’s open government laws into a single, uniform act, eliminating much of the current confusion. However, the bill died in session and has not been revived this year.

 

Fugate said the public records law is also complicated by the fact that it contains “lots of exceptions and we see more and more every year.”

 

Moderator Sara Isaac, a League member and former journalist who currently is a strategist with Salter Mitchell, a national social marketing firm, said that to date Florida legislators have passed more than 1,000 exemptions to the public records law and more are being proposed this year.

 

Isaac noted that Florida has a long history of support for open government. Building on the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees freedom of the press, Florida passed its first public records law in 1909. The Government-in-the-Sunshine Law guaranteeing public access to government meetings was approved in 1967, and in 1990 Floridians passed a Constitutional Amendment that extended the open meetings law to the state Legislature.

 

However, Tallahassee’s current attitude toward open government and the use of exorbitant fees and foot-dragging to thwart public records requests is cause for concern, panelists said. It is up to individual Floridians and organizations such as the League, which has long advocated for open government, to promote and protect citizens’ right to oversee their government, panelists said.

JIM CROW TACTICS RETURN TO FLORIDA: VOTER SUPPRESSION LAW MOVING QUICKLY DESPITE PROTESTS

Currently, an omnibus elections bill that would make dramatic changes to Florida's election code is moving through the state Legislature. We are following this issue very closely, and want to make sure that you are informed. Below, please see the press release that LWVF sent out yesterday (April 14). Since then, HB 1355 was passed by the House State Affairs Committee, and a similar bill (SB 2086) was passed by the Senate Rules Committee this morning (April 15). The Senate version includes a provision to limit early voting within the state to 7 days. (Currently, early voting occurs over 14 days.) Additionally, SB 2086 goes even further than HB 1355 in terms of limiting voters' ability to update their address at their polling place.  

 

As we move forward, we hope that you will stand ready to take action on this issue. We'll be sending out multiple Action Alerts in the weeks ahead, and we want you to know how vital your voice will be in this debate. It is critical that our elected officials know that League members are watching them. To those who want to bring Florida back to an era of voter suppression and intimidation, we say: not on our watch!

 

Sincerely,  

Jessica Lowe-Minor

LWVF Executive Director

Press Release from the League of Women Voters of Florida

JIM CROW TACTICS RETURN TO FLORIDA: VOTER SUPPRESSION LAW MOVING QUICKLY DESPITE PROTESTS

Tallahassee, Fla. -- A new 151-page version of the Florida House of Representatives' elections bill HB 1355 surfaced late last night, making a bad elections bill even worse. The League of Women Voters of Florida, along with other voter groups, is still digesting this massive effort to increase regulations and obstacles for voters, Supervisors of Elections and third-party voter registration groups like the League.  

 

HB 1355 stands to disenfranchise Florida's mobile citizens, including college students and relocating professionals, by disallowing address changes at the polls. The bill will also compromise, and likely eliminate, third-party efforts to register voters, as well as vastly increase the number of provisional ballots used -- ballots which are often uncounted due to the amount of time and effort needed to verify each one. When taken as a whole, HB 1355 unduly burdens Supervisors of Elections and third-party voter registration groups and assumes that voters are "guilty until proven innocent."    

 

Despite Florida's well-executed 2008 and 2010 general elections, the legislature is reverting to Jim Crow-style tactics of disenfranchising voters at the polls and suppressing voter registration efforts via bureaucracy and fines. Given that a number of these provisions have already been overturned by the courts, League President Deirdre Macnab said that "citizens should be outraged over this waste of taxpayer money that will diminish voter registration and voter turnout in our state." 

 

A new provision added last night would now require voters whose legitimacy is challenged by poll watchers to cast provisional ballots with no opportunity at the polls to defend themselves and cast a regular ballot. Provisional ballots are often not counted with election day results and are expensive and time-consuming for Supervisors to process. 

 

Another area of particular concern to the League of Women Voters of Florida is a section that would disallow voters from updating address at their polling place on election day. Under current law, voters who have moved within the state of Florida are able to update their information at their polling place and still cast a regular ballot. If HB 1355 goes into effect, such voters who have changed counties would have to cast a provisional ballot, creating more work for their Supervisor of Elections, costing Florida's taxpayers more money and resulting in a greater chance that their provisional ballot will never be counted. This rule will impact Florida's university students in particular, along with other voters who move within Florida but outside their county. What is the point of this rule change, other than to disenfranchise the 1 in 6 citizens who move during any given year? 

 

In addition to voters, now League members and those who volunteer their time to register new voters are not to be trusted either. HB 1355 also targets third-party voter registration groups such as LWVF. Just two years ago, the League of Women Voters of Florida, along with other groups, won a lawsuit to overturn an unfair law aimed at penalizing citizens who perform voter registration drives, including the League's own members. These volunteers will now need to go down to local Supervisors' offices, register by providing detailed personal information, take an oath and be held personally and financially liable if they do not deliver the completed forms back to the Supervisor within 48 hours. Fines will be levied up to $1,000 per person.  

 

"How can we ask volunteers to take on a financial risk of $1,000 and their good name if they are late in returning registration forms?" Macnab said. "With this proposed law, Florida's leaders have taken aim at voters and the legions of volunteers who have over the past 91 years volunteered their time to register new voters, in the belief that active and informed citizens strengthen our democracy. This law brings back Jim Crow-style tactics to intimidate all Florida voters and volunteers who believe in the democratic process."

 

Contact: Deirdre Macnab, LWVF President 

Phone: (407) 415-4559

Email: floridaleague@earthlink.net

 

Ben Wilcox, LWVF Governmental Consultant

Phone: (850) 544-4448

Week-end summary of Court System Legislation/House

REFORM OF THE COURT SYSTEM

The House went immediately to HJR 7111, a proposed constitutional amendment to divide the Supreme Court into two divisions, one for criminal cases and one for civil cases. Each would have five justices and separate chief justices.

Democrats proposed an amendment to make clear that there would be no election to put the proposed amendment before voters before November 2012. Rep. Richard Steinberg, D-Miami Beach, said there was concern on the back row that lawmakers intended to put the measure before voters earlier than that, in time to “stack the court” before it will consider redistricting issues in the spring of 2012.

“This is about stacking the court for redistricting ,” said Steinberg.

The amendment failed 39-79.

Democrats also tried an amendment that would undo most of the bill, except a dedicated funding source for the courts. That amendment also failed.

DEBATE
“This is an immature, ill-advised and arrogant attempt by leadership to pack the Supreme Court,” said Rep. Jim Waldman, D-Coconut Creek.

Rep. Charles Van Zant said that “our Supreme Court has failed our society, ruling against our defenseless citizens” and needed to be expanded so it could be more representative of the populace.

Several Republicans said the court goes too slow with criminal cases, denying justice, and the same with civil cases, denying needed relief to businesses.

“Being on death row for 30 years is not efficient administration of justice,” said Rep. Shawn Harrison, R-Tampa.

Democrats retorted that the courts in Florida are more efficient than many other states, and that many of the slowdowns – particularly with death row inmates – are actually in the federal courts.

Rep. Ron Saunders, the Democratic leader in the House, said the question of the motivation for the bill, and whether it was an effort to pack the court with more conservatives, was simple – he asked members to ask themselves whether they thought the GOP-led House would be doing this if the governor were Democrat Alex Sink.

Things got a little heated because Rep. Waldman compared a situation where one party controls the entire apparatus of government to the situation in Cuba. An angry Rep. Carlos Lopez Cantera said he was offended by the comparison. Waldman later said that nobody should question his motives – and noted that his children are Cuban-American and his ex-wife’s family was exiled from Cuba, and in some cases imprisoned, and reiterated his fear of one party rule.

Rep. Eric Eisnaugle, R-Orlando, argued that the claim that Republicans want to pack the court before redistricting was a red herring. “It has zero to do with redistricting …..This bill requires the question to be presented to voters at the general election of 2012. Period. It could have no impact on redistricting….. The only way it could …is if a separate bill is filed. To my knowledge, no such bill is filed.”

Eisnaugle also said it was disrespectful for Democrats to assume that justices rule “politically” rather than based on the law.

Eisnaugle also said the measure is important because of a provision that seeks to reduce the ability of the court to overreach through rule-making. Eisnaugle has complained, for example, about the court rule determining what constitutes a speedy trial. The Legislature may not agree with the length of time, but has no ability to check that. “There is a branch of government that has no check,” Eisnaugle said. “This bill will provide that meaningful check.”

The bill passed 79-38 along party lines.

Appalled and Ashamed: HB 1355

Dear Speaker Cannon:

I watched the House State Affairs Committee hearing/consideration of HB 1355 on Thursday via the Florida Channel. I was shocked.

This 135-page strike-all amendment substitute was offered to citizens for review with less than 15 hours notice. Public Testimony was limited to an hour or less.  Shameful.

The right to cast a vote lies at the very heart of our democracy. The League of Women Voters has spent 90 years protecting this privilege. What’s more, as volunteers, this organization and others believe that making voting convenient and easy for all citizens is our greatest challenge ahead.

We can debate the issues, discuss the pros/cons…that’s never a problem….as long as such a forum is provided. Yesterday, your committee chairman hardly provided such a needed opportunity. Why is this happening on your watch as Speaker? Where’s the transparency and fairness to the citizens. Again, a 135-page new bill amending the core foundation of Florida’s voting procedures merits thorough citizen review, comment and input. What’s more, key administrative provisions of the proposed legislation will actually cost the taxpayers to pay more for election services. Shouldn’t taxpayers have a right to review and comment on the cost/benefit of such proposals?

Let me address my remarks to the process. Yesterday’s hearing was highly disrespectful to the citizens of Florida. As Speaker, elected from Orange County, I ask you to step forward as a statesman and remove this cloud which is hanging over this bill. Not only is the proposed legislation outright voter suppression, but the process, to solicit meaningful citizen input, has been suppressed as well. I call on you to stop this train wreck. You are one of our best and brightest public servants from Orange County: show us the leadership we have anticipated.

 

Charley Williams, President

League of Women Voters of Orange County

 

Words from LWVOC President

Dear League Members...

We are now halfway through the 2011 Florida Legislative Session. Session is scheduled to adjourn May 6. Let me take this opportunity to summarize some key bills we are tracking and encourage you to remain vigilant for the next 20 days. As the largest league in Florida, we count on your advocacy.

 

OMNIBUS ELECTIONS BILL: "Good ole fashion voter suppression" HB 1355

I just finished watching House State Affairs Committee debate this bill via the Florida Channel. LWVFL lobbyist Ben Wilcox and State League Board Member Marilynn Wills did an admirable job speaking out against this terrible legislation.

The revised 135-page strike-all amendment for HB 1355 was issued at 7 pm Wednesday night, less than 15 hours before Thursday's 9:00 am. hearing, hardly leaving time for meaningful citizen review. Need I say more? Central Florida House members Scott Plakon and Steve Crisafulli voted in favor of reporting the bill out of the State Affairs Committee.

Please be ready to spring into action. More in this week's LWVFL Capitol Report. Read UCF student Anna Eskamani's column at our E-VOTER site.

 

TABOR (Statewide Revenue Cap, so-called Taxpayer Bill or Rights)

House Joint Resolution 7221

The LWVFL has targeted this legislation as our number one priority to DEFEAT this session. The bill was voted out of committee by a less than overwhelming vote: 14 to 10.

Keep the pressure up fighting this bill: you are having an impact. To pass, this bill must receive three-fifths majority in each chamber. If adopted, it will then go to voters in November 2012 as a proposed constitutional amendment.

 

Here are a few quotes from members I'd like to share:

"The constitution is a permanent document. How can we visualize what will happen in 30 years?", said Rep. Doug Braxson, R- Gulf Breeze.

"We spent the last session getting high speed rail, red light cameras and septic tank inspections passed only to turn around and repeal all three" said  Rep. Paige Kreegel, R-Punta Gorda.

"To limit government is a nice idea but to use the worst economic year we've ever had as a base scares me" - Senator Nancy Detert, R-Venice

Another committee member, Rep. Trudi Williams, R-Ft. Meyers voted against the bill saying Florida has amended its constitution too often.

 

CENTRAL FLORIDA SUNRAIL

 This critical transit project rests in Governor Rick Scott's hands. Important: Let him hear from you....(often).

Twitter: FlGovScott

Facebook: search for "Rick Scott"

Email:rick.scott@eog.myflorida.com

 

LWVOC ANNUAL MEETING - THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 5:00-7:00 PM.

Please join the League for our Annual Meeting to be held at the Winter Park University Club. We will celebrate our past year's successes, honor members who have worked hard, approve our budget, our local program, vote on our slate of new officers and board members.  We will reserve plenty of time for members to visit one-on-one.

 

NEXT HOT TOPICS: MAY 13: THE JUDICIARY: BACKS TO THE WALL

Our Hot Topics A-Team did it again this past April 13 with a first for our League: a program partnership with the First Amendment Foundation, addressing obstacles to open government. Attendees also raised $450 for our LWVFL Lobby Fund. Thank you!

Our next Hot Topics will be just as dynamic. As legislation aimed at bisecting the Florida Supreme Court makes its way through the Legislature this session, our panel will address pressures facing the Judiciary and some of the consequences that citizens will face if such considerations come to pass. Wednesday, May 13, at the Sorosis Club.

 

BEST WAY TO STAY INFORMED: LWVOC E-VOTER

Our E-Voter daily news service is your best way to follow the League in action. We have now positioned E-VOTER in a primary position on our homepage. We refresh it daily with articles of interest, summaries, legislative bulletins, reprints from other Leagues.

E-VOTER will become your best source for League news as we continue our printed VOTER in quarterly installments.

 

LWV: "Nationally recognized, locally engaged".

 

With highest regards,

Charley

Charley Williams

President

LWVOC

HB 1355 only makes government bigger

 

By Anna Eskamani, Guest Columnist

Central Florida Future, The Student Newspaper at UCF since 1968

Published: Sunday, April 10, 2011

 

If there is one thing that Republicans do not like, it's youths who vote.

This may seem like a bold statement to some, but before you make your judgment, let me introduce you to House Bill 1355.

HB 1355, drafted by Speaker of the House Dean Cannon and introduced into committee by Rep. Dennis Baxley, is a 128-page rewrite of our state's election laws. The re-write itself specifically targets individuals and organizations who volunteer their time to register voters.

Provisions within the bill are numerous and dangerously detrimental to the democratic process. It would require anyone collecting voter registrations to register with the state.

This means that all organizations who wish to register voters, including student groups, must submit the names, addresses and dates of birth for all volunteers to the state. These organizations will then be required to obtain custom registration forms from the local supervisor of elections with the organization's name identified on the form.

This is done as a method of tracking, because if you submit an incorrect voter registration application, you and your organization will be penalized with a fine by the state of Florida. It should also be noted that the payment collected from these fines will no longer be utilized to increase voter education. In contrast, this money can go anywhere the government wants.

Those who support HB 1355 assert that it is a method of preventing voter fraud. By making the process more bureaucratic, they are hoping to eliminate fraudulent voter registrations. Yes, HB 1355 may succeed in doing so, but at what cost?

HB 1355, if passed, would make a traditionally easy process into a ridiculously technical one. In most cases, all you need to register a voter is a voter-registration form, a clipboard, pen and time. And that's what's so perfect about it — the simplicity of it all.

During the presidential elections of 2008, the College Democrats at UCF registered 10,775 voters. And that's just one organization of volunteers in one election cycle. Imagine what 2012 could bring. Imagine how many students will register to vote and then actually vote in 2012.

It baffles me that so much attention is being given to social issues and voting rules when our economy is what's in need of revision. The almost-governmental shutdown this past weekend is an example of this and I would like to think that we're smart enough to not waste our time on issues that do not need fixing.

Because honestly, what is so wrong with registering students to vote?

It's extremely ironic (and hypocritical) that a political party who preaches against big government would attempt to pass legislation that only encourages big government. If you want to hear what the people want, then maybe you should let us get registered to vote. Maybe you should encourage the electoral process, not diminish its possibilities.

With all of that said, I urge you to contact Speaker of the House Dean Cannon. His office drafted HB 1355, and if you're wondering why the House representative for the UCF campus would do such a thing, it's probably because his term limits are over.

I guess he wants to be remembered for destroying the student vote.

I want us to be remembered for winning it back.