Opponents of a massive Senate bill overhauling the state’s elections process accused backers of ramming the measure through its final committee Tuesday as it moves toward the Senate floor.
The Senate Budget Committee approved the measure on a 13-7 vote, after weighing the bill (SB 2086) for less than an hour and hearing just a few minutes of public testimony from one member of the public. That brought a sharp rebuke from groups opposed to the measure, which would make it more difficult for some voters to cast ballots.
“Passing a bill that will disenfranchise voters (namely student voters) out of committee without public testimony should be shocking,” said Brad Ashwell of Florida PIRG in a statement following the vote. “But this egregious act is strangely what we’ve come to expect out of [a] Legislature that seems drunken with power. To not take public testimony and deny the public their last opportunity to weigh in on a bill that will be so detrimental to the public best interest is simply shameful.”
But Budget Chairman JD Alexander said after the committee’s meeting that the move to shorten debate was needed in order to get the bill out of committee with time running short. The panel is not scheduled to meet again this session, though lawmakers have said it could have a meeting called for Thursday.
“I frankly think it’s inappropriate to allow protracted public comment to effectively kill a bill by not having it come to a vote,” Alexander said. “At this point, we’ve had all session long for folks to comment on various bills. I thought it was important to vote the bill, which we did.”
The measure in many ways mirrors a lengthy, omnibus elections bill that moved through the House, often after bitter and partisan debate. While Democrats and groups opposed to the measure say it is an attempt to disenfranchise thousands of Floridians — particularly those who might support President Barack Obama’s re-election effort — Republicans say the bill is needed to ensure that fraud does not decide elections.
But the two versions also differ on some key points, including whether the state should create a panel that could move the state’s Jan. 31 presidential preference primary to try to defuse a showdown with the national Republican Party. The House bill does that, the Senate bill doesn’t.
The only testimony lawmakers heard at the budget committee meeting was against the bill. Daniel Hunt, of Newberry, noted that the nation is involved in several wars aimed at spreading democracy.
“And right here in our own home, we’re figuring out neat ways to stop people from voting,” he said.
By Brandon Larrabee
