Another legal challenge to the state’s controversial elections law hit the federal courts Thursday, with three voter registration groups filing suit to block provisions of the bill that they say would force them to shut down operations in the state.
The organizations say provisions of the bill putting new rules on voter registration drives violate their right to free speech and association and the National Voter Registration Act, while also hitting the groups and voters with “confusing and unclear mandates,” according to a news release.
“Florida’s anti-voter law creates impassable roadblocks for our volunteers, who are simply trying to bring fellow citizens into our democratic process,” said League of Women Voters President Deirdre Macnab. “Today, we take a stand against these unacceptable barriers to voting and voter registration.”
The groups — the League of Women Voters, Rock the Vote and the Florida Public Interest Research Group Education Fund — are represented by attorneys with the ACLU Foundation of Florida, the Brennan Center for Justice and two law firms: Paul, Weisss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP and Coffey Burlington.
Republicans have argued that the law is aimed at preventing likely fraud.
The groups tied their lawsuit to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder’s recent comments blasting laws that limit voter rights in several states, but the sponsor of the legislation said recently that he did not use so-called “model legislation” from a national conservative organization to craft his bill.
“I didn’t look at anything out-of-state,” Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, said recently. “I didn’t talk to anybody out-of-state.”
The state is already asking a D.C.-based court to preclear the amendments, allowing them to take effect in five counties that must first get federal approval for changes in voting rules because of a history of voter discrimination.
