Florida sues federal government for the right to discriminate the vote

Very good coverage on Ed Schultz on voter purge

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BREAKING: Federal Judge Blocks Florida Voter Suppression Law | ThinkProgress

BREAKING: Federal Judge Blocks Florida Voter Suppression Law | ThinkProgress:

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A federal judge blocked much of Florida’s year-old voter suppression law today as an unconstitutional infringement on speech and voting rights.

Last year, the Republican-held Florida legislature passed HB 1355, which imposed harsh new restrictions on third-party voter registration groups, requiring them to turn in completed registration forms 48 hours — to the minute — after completion, or face fines. Outside groups often register hundreds of people at a time and, before this law, had used a quality-control process that took days to ensure the accuracy of submitted forms. With the onerous restrictions now in place, some groups like the League of Women Voters were ultimately forced to cease registration drives in the Sunshine State.

In blocking the new law, U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle wrote:

The statute and rule impose a harsh and impractical 48-hour deadline for an organization to deliver applications to a voter registration office and effectively prohibit an organization from mailing applications in. And the statute and rule impose burdensome record-keeping and reporting requirements that serve little if any purpose, thus rendering them unconstitutional even to the extent they do not violate the NVRA. [...]

The plaintiffs will suffer irreparable harm if an injunction is not issued, first because the denial of a right of this magnitude under circumstances like these almost always inflicts irreparable harm, and second because when a plaintiff loses an opportunity to register a voter, the opportunity is gone forever.

Though state judges and the Department of Justice have already taken steps to prevent voter disenfranchisement, Hinkle’s decision is the first time a federal court has blocked one of the most recent round of state voter suppression laws.

Voters have already begun to experience the effects of new anti-voting laws. Minority voter registration is down significantly from the 2008 election. Among Latinos nationwide, voter registration has dropped five percent; for blacks, registration rates are down seven percent.

New York University’s Brennan Center, which studies voting rights issues, hailed the decision. “Florida’s law and others approved in the past year represent the most significant cutback in voting rights in decades,” said director Wendy Weiser. “Today’s decision will help turn the tide.”

Originally posted here: http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/05/31/493196/judge-blocks-florida-voter-law/

The Florida election fix is in for 2012

Good Rachel Maddow Show: You can either get more votes or stop people from voting: Florida style

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Daily Kos: Florida begins MASSIVE voter purge in early bid to steal Presidency before elections

Daily Kos: Florida begins MASSIVE voter purge in early bid to steal Presidency before elections:

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This has EVERYTHING to do with the fact that Florida is a swing state. This has everything to do with stopping citizens from being able to vote. This has EVERYTHING to do with voter supression. Denying your countrymen their right to a vote, brought to you by the Republican Party.

. . . in this election, “Governor Scott wants to play the role of Katherine Harris.”

Katherine Harris, of course, was the Florida Secretary of State who helped George W. Bush "win" Florida and the Presidential election of 2000 after Bush v Gore was decided 5-4 by the Supreme Court in the most activist thing any American court had ever done at the time. According to ThinkProgress.org one estimate from 2000 said that 7,000 voters were wrongfully removed from the rolls of eligible voters, 88% of whom were African-American. Al Gore won 92% of the African-American vote in Florida in 2000

    I remember the before times when George W. Bush wasn't Presidenting yet and America had never heard of a hanging chad. If not for a few hundred votes in Florida and a few thousand more who were pushed off the voter rolls "by accident" this might be a very different country, a very different world. Am I alone in the thought that preventing your fellow countryman from having the right to vote is as Un-American as it gets?

More below the fold . 

LP: Of course nobody can forget Florida;s most recent history

Of course the only way we found out about it was through foreign news. Our news was busy focusing on voter fraud in the Ukraine. Thanks New York Times