GOP Voter Suppression: League of Women Voters forced to stop voter registration in Florida

[sasha031]

One of the oldest and most respected third party voter registration groups in the country just announced they will cease voter registration Florida after the passage last week of a bill that will attach significant civil penalties to voter registration groups (like the NAACP, the Boy Scouts and other civic groups) in the name of combating "fraud". It will now be difficult to change your registration if you move to another county in Florida and nobody will be going to help college students or minorities register.

“Despite the fact that the League of Women Voters is one of the nation’s most respected civic organizations, with a 91-year history of registering and educating voters, we will be unable to comply with the egregious provisions contained in HB 1355,” said LWV President Deirdre Macnab, of Orange County.“Not only does the bill make it more difficult for voters to participate in our democracy via a decrease in early voting and new policies regarding address changes at the polls, it also imposes an undue burden on groups such as ours that work to register voters.

“Under the false pretext of reducing ‘fraud,’ Florida’s legislative leaders have instituted a law that will shut down the efforts of groups such as the League, the Boy Scouts, student groups, civic organizations and others who undertake the important task of helping citizens get registered to vote.”

The bill requires third-party voter registration groups such as the League of Women Voters, unions and the NAACP to turn in voter-registration cards within 48 hours or face fines. Voter groups have said that requirement would be difficult to meet if they are registering thousands of voters at a time.Critics have said that will make it harder for college students and minorities who flocked to the polls in 2008 to elect President Barack Obama to have their votes counted in next year’s presidential election.Macnab went on to say the organization ”cannot and will not place our thousands of volunteers at risk, subjecting them to a process in which one late form could result in their facing financial and civil penalties.”
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/page/246476_League_of_Women_Voters_forced_

[louis-t]

1. I cannot even begin to proclaim how evil this is...

Just makes my blood boil. Backward, ill-bred people will believe this is in their best interest.

[socialist_n_TN]

2. This kind of stuff is happening all over..........

and NOTHING will stop the fascists from enacting these types of law anywhere they have the power to do so.

This is also the reason I don't hold out much hope for electoral remedies to the mess we find ourselves in. Anytime the vote is supressed, the fascists win.

[defendandprotect]

3. That was the main thrust behind the attack on ACORN, of course -- !!! Rightwing continues to rise!!

[gratuitous]

4. All of a piece in the GOP voter suppression plan

The GOP knows that it is in the minority, despite their constant appeals to "the American people" and the "will of the voters." They know for a fact that the more people voting, the worse their chances are for winning. They're quite willing to sacrifice, say, 25 votes out of 100 new voters, because they're stopping 75 potential votes against them.

Voter registration drives have never been a GOP strong suit. It requires a lot of volunteers, and the GOP doesn't do volunteer. At first, they tried to monkey wrench groups like ACORN by staging their own registration drives, and shitcanning any cards that had the "wrong" party. So the law got changed to require groups to turn in all registration cards they received. The GOP wasn't stymied for an instant. They began filling out bogus registration cards for "Mickey Mouse" or "Haywood Jablowme" and then blowing the whistle on the do-gooders for "promoting" voter fraud. Groups outmaneuvered them again by helpfully segregating questionable cards for the special attention of the registrars, so there were no instances of Mr. Mouse or Mr. Jablowme actually casting a ballot.

Clearly not done yet, the GOP has now instituted another onerous and needless requirement designed to suppress as many votes as possible, posing another solution to a non-existent problem.

[The Backlash Cometh]

5. ACLU, are you listening?

This is up their alley, isn't it?

[damntexdem]

6. Who is going to sue over this?

And where is the enforcement of the Voting Rights Act?

[SoCalDem]

7. How the times have changed.. I remember when the League of Women Voters

ran the debates and did a LOT of voter registration (if not most of it)

Everyone at age 18 should be automatically "registered " to vote in national elections for president and in statewide elections for governor & senate. They should be issued a voter card like the old draft cards..

If people want to vote for congress & local, they should only need to prove their address, and that could be done with a water bill or cable bill..

Registration to vote should not come with flaming hoops to jump through/.

[hifiguy]

8. Pure and simple - the Repigs don't want anyone voting

except their "base" of the religulously insane, the baggerbots and the plutocrats. No one else need apply.

I'm just surprised that the fuckers haven't tried to reinstate a poll tax yet.

[BlueIris]

9. Jesus Christ.

Yikers.

[drm604]

10. Someone needs to bring a lawsuit.

How the hell does a 48 hour requirement prevent vote fraud? This makes no sense except as a way to limit voter registration.

[LetTimmySmoke]

11. The president needs to talk about this publicly.

Included in his speech should be the importance of voting rights and the civil rights movement.

[LiberalFighter]

12. There needs to be federal laws that are standardized forces states to comply.

Federal laws I believe for elections can only apply to federal elections. But if those laws apply to federal elections it should result in state laws mimicking federal laws to avoid two different sets of laws applying.