What is it about the State of Florida, that the elected political leadership in Tallahassee just doesn’t “get” the fundamentally negative PR value of messing with elections?
Do the Republican-controlled legislature and governor really like having the State be the laughing stock of the country when it comes to electoral transparency and voters’ rights?
OK, so I have to admit that there are obvious benefits to tampering with the voting process that can far outweigh the bad publicity. Such as getting control of the U.S. Presidency for eight years, despite the embarassment of the hanging chads debacle in the 2000 presidential race that sparked the 36-day standoff and Supreme Court selection of George W. Bush to be the leader of the free world.
But, even when the winners write the history, too much negative publicity over voting irregularities cannot be a good thing for a State and it’s citizenry.
And, it just seems to keep coming back to Florida, again and again: there were, for example, the 2004 election irregularities associated with the introduction of “paperless” electronic voting machines in 15 of Florida’s 67 counties — not to mention the loss of 58,000 absentee postal voter forms in heavily Democratic Broward County. And, of course, in 2006 in Sarasota County there were the loss of more than 18,000 votes cast for a congressional seat that the Republican candidate seized by a margin of fewer than 400 votes.
But, it’s when the Republican-led legislature goes out of its way to stick an oar in the voter registration process that it really starts to get covered in muck, as it did in 2006 when the FL League of Women Voters and others filed suit against the State — and won — over onerous restrictions in a State law that would have had a “chilling effect” on third-party registration of voters in Florida. I had the privilege of leading media outreach efforts at the time and I can tell you the State of Florida walked away licking its wounds, both from the court defeat and so much negative national and statewide publicity.
Did they learn? No way … the legislature and Secretary of State are back at it again with a new version of the same law and the League and others have once again had to file suit to try to stop the effort to dampen non-partisan voter registration efforts by third-party organizations in Florida.
As the press release on the latest lawsuit makes clear, it is obvious why the Republican-controlled State has moved forward with this law:
In the last presidential election, over half a million citizens in Florida registered through a drive. Of all the registered voters in Florida that year, 17% of African-American voters, 19% of Hispanic voters, 22% of voters from Spanish-speaking households, and 14% of voters who make less than $10,000 a year registered through a drive.
This latest attempt to obstruct voter registration in Florida will likely go down to defeat, as well. But, only after suspension of voter registration drives by third-party organizations while the lawsuit is being fought. And not, ultimately, without once again tarring the reputation of Florida as one of the more democracy-unfriendly states in the nation, where electoral transparency is the exception and disrespect for voters’ rights has unfortunately become the norm.
UPDATE: FL Sec. of State Kurt Browning ’spins’ it with his view in the Tallahassee Democrat
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