The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) has written to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) asking that changes to Florida elections law be rejected. Passed during the spring legislative session, the DSCC said in their memo Florida’s new elections law “will result in fewer registered minority voters, fewer ballots cast by minority voters, and fewer ballots counted for minority voters.”
The DSCC’s memo comes four days after Gov. Rick Scott and Secretary of State Kurt Browning sort approval of four key provisions from a federal court rather than the DOJ, to which the bill was originally submitted for review and “pre-clearance”.
Because of a history of racial discrimination, five Florida counties must obtain “pre-clearance” and approval from the DOJ or federal district court for all changes affecting elections.
Amongst the four sections removed from the DOJ review are the most contentious sections on which Browning is asking approval from the federal court. These are: a reduction in the number of early voting days; a provision barring voters from changing their addresses at polling stations on election day; new rules undermining the ability of groups to register voters; and new standards for citizen-initiative petitions.
“The DSCC sees it as no coincidence that the Republican-dominated Florida Legislature would institute voting changes that will disparately affect minority voters in an election year when suppressing the minority vote likely will help Republican candidates,” wrote executive director Guy Cecil and general counsel Marc Elias. “But under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, minority voting rights cannot be bartered in the course of political gamesmanship.”
Browning said he was concerned that the DOJ’s opinion might be impacted by outside influences.
Supporters of the law suggest that the changes are aimed at reducing the chances of voter fraud, which is minimal.
