Thought Theater

Federal Judge Cans Florida Voter Registration Law genre: Polispeak & Six Degrees of Speculation

In a move viewed by many as a victory for voter participation, a federal judge has ruled that a Florida state law that sought to penalize third party voter registration groups is unconstitutional. The law exempted existing political parties from the penalties. Read the full article here.

(AP) A federal judge on Monday declared a new Florida voter registration law unconstitutional, ruling that its stiff penalties for violations threaten free speech rights and that political parties were improperly exempted.

The 48-page ruling by U.S. District Judge Patricia Seitz means that state authorities cannot enforce the provisions of the law. It took effect Jan. 1 and has been blamed by several labor unions and nonprofit groups for effectively blocking voter registration drives across the state because of the financial risk.

The measure quietly passed the Legislature in the aftermath of the 2004 presidential election that saw national attention focused on Florida as a key battleground state and the registration of more than 1.5 million new voters, nearly twice the number registered in the 2000 election cycle.

While there have been instances of voter registration irregularities, the Florida law and other similar laws that were passed after 2004 in reaction to significant new voter registrations. Historically, voter registration efforts enlist more Democrats than Republicans and many have criticized the new laws as a means to limit the expansion of Democratic voters. The prevailing problem is that both sides of the argument are looking for advantages rather than simply promoting a larger voter turnout and much of the wrangling is intended to handicap the opposition.

"This is a win for democracy and will send a signal to officials in Florida and other states that you cannot erect unreasonable barriers to voter registration," said Wendy Weiser, co-counsel for the third-party groups and deputy director of the Democracy Program at the New York University law school's Brennan Center for Justice.

Attorneys for the state had argued that the Legislature was within its powers to single out third-party groups because of evidence of past registration problems.

From my perspective, the voter registration system would be better served if it were standardized throughout the country since that would allow it to be more efficiently managed and monitored. As it now stands, voter registration procedures can vary from county to county...often making the process intimidating and cumbersome for the public...and frequently leading to fewer registrations.