Speech opposing the Elections Bill approved by the Florida Legislature given by LWVOC President Ann Hellmuth at a rally in Orlando on May 10, 2011.
We VOTERS and all citizens of Florida are under attack - not from an outside enemy, but from many of our own State Legislators!! These elected representatives, entrusted with our welfare, have passed bills that severely undermine our state election laws and your voting access.
It is time for us to act before the shadow of Jim Crow re-emerges in Florida.
We call on Gov. Rick Scott to veto the Anti-Voter Bill - aka HB1355.
As president of the League of Women Voters for Orange County. I would like to emphasize that the League is a non-partisan political organization, and the mission is to promote political responsibility through informed and active participation in government.
And while the League may hold positions on various issues, the League never supports or opposes any candidate or political party.
But for more than 70 years, the Florida League has been involved in voter education and voter registration drives.
However, if the Anti-Voter Bill becomes law, the League will cease voter registration efforts throughout the state. For while the League remains committed to empowering an active and informed citizenry, it will not place its thousands of volunteers at risk of financial and civil penalties that could be inflicted under this bill.
Nothing reflects this Legislature's disregard for the electorate as much as its effort to suppress voting by shrinking the window for early voting from two weeks to 8 days and embracing other limits that discriminate against young voters, minorities and the poor.
Voters seeking to notify the supervisor of elections at the poll on election day of an address change can be forced to vote on a provisional ballot — which is far less likely to actually be counted. And groups like the League of Women Voters seeking to register voters or collect signatures for constitutional amendments will face onerous and unnecessary regulation and fines. The time groups have to return registration forms would shrink from 10 days to TWO days. Workers returning late registrations would face stiff fines.
Instead of making access easier, the majority of Florida lawmakers were intent on making it more difficult to vote. Instead of removing barriers, they are erecting them. Instead of moving forward, they have taken a step back.
Sen. David Simmons of Apopka, said it was an excellent bill.
But Orange County Elections Supervisor Bill Cowles and Seminole County Elections Supervisor Mike Ertel have said there isn’t a fraud problem tied to updating addresses at the polls. And the Secretary of State reported that his office received zero notifications of voter fraud in 2010.
That's right - zero.
For the sake of our state and future generations, we must fight to keep the doors of the pollings stations open for all those qualified to vote. That's why the League is collecting signatures for a petition calling on the Governor to veto HB1355.
Please sign before you leave today.
For if Scott signs the bill, then to quote the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, Florida will rise to the head of the class when it comes to penalizing civic engagement.
Make no mistake about it - democracy is under fire and in retreat. We must fight to save it...
The League will not suffer in silence until the next election, nor should you! We will be speaking EVERYWHERE on the importance of voting, asking everyone we meet to register and vote, to learn about what the candidates who ask for our vote REALLY believe, to ask candidates the hard questions and remind them WE WILL HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE.
VOTER REPRESSION can work only if we let it. Do not let down on your passion, your enthusiasm and your belief in DEMOCRACY! Ramp up your friends, engage others in this fight--make no mistake, this is a FIGHT! The League of Women Voters has been fighting for over 90 years for what Superman called "Truth, Justice and the American Way!" Our Legislators have given us high-octane fuel to fire up the battle for our rights as citizens.
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