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Scott Signs Controversial Elections Overhaul Into Law

Gov. Rick Scott signed a controversial elections bill Thursday, sending ripples through a looming special election in Miami-Dade County and, opponents of the measure say, potentially altering the playing field for the 2012 presidential vote.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Kurt Browning said he would issue a directive that could remove some of the sting from a provision limiting when voters who move from county to county can change their addresses.

The measure (HB 1355) takes effect in 62 counties, but not in the five counties where federal authorities must preclear the measure because of Florida’s history of racial discrimination.

Opponents blasted the decision to move forward across part of the state and continued to pin their hopes on the chances that the Department of Justice could ultimately knock down the law.

The only immediate impact was to back up the decision of elections officials in Miami-Dade County to shut down early voting on Sunday for that city’s special mayoral election; former Republican lawmaker Marcelo Llorente has challenged that move in court.

Scott’s office announced his decision on the bill, one of the most fiercely contested measures of the legislative session, without comment. He had said earlier in the week that he wants people to be able to vote – but doesn’t want fraud.

But little more than an hour after the announcement, Browning, the state’s top elections official, addressed reporters to defend a bill that he conceded he had not asked for.

On the address provision, which would require voters who have moved from county to county to cast provisional ballots if they haven’t changed their address before the election, Browning said he believed lawmakers were trying to close off a potential avenue for fraud before it became an issue.

“To me, it wasn’t one of those issues that rose to the level that we needed to fully address. … (But) I believe that Florida, as has been my policy, wants to be more proactive than reactive,” he said. “I’d much rather address problems before they arise, or the potential of problems arising, than you getting hit in the face with a full-blown problem and don’t have a plan to solve it.”

But Browning said he would use his increased authority under the bill to direct local elections officials that “unless there is evidence of fraud in provisional ballots, they shall count those provisional ballots.”

That move is an attempt to blunt criticism that provisional ballots are rarely counted and any for moving voters would likely be thrown out because they were not cast in the precinct the voter is registered to vote.

Even so, groups opposed to it poured more scorn on a measure they say was aimed less at protecting Florida’s elections and more at demobilizing President Barack Obama’s electoral coalition in a key swing state ahead of the 2012 elections.

In addition to the address change, the measure reduces the number of early-voting days; increases regulations for third-party voter registration organizations; and creates a new panel, chaired by Browning, to set a date for the state’s presidential preference primary.

“If it weren’t so grotesquely un-American, you’d almost want to congratulate them for the audacity and efficiency of the attack,” said Howard Simon, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida. “Governor Scott and the anti-civil liberties State Legislature have achieved an astonishing voter suppression trifecta. With just one bill, they made it harder to register to vote, harder to cast your vote, and harder to have your vote counted.”

The League of Women Voters of Florida has said the group would stop registering voters when the law takes effect. National groups concerned with the impact on minority voters also laced into the bill.

“The NAACP is outraged that Governor Scott signed this bill that blatantly and maliciously attacks, restricts and suppresses the voting rights of Florida’s racial and ethnic minorities, women, students and working communities,” the NAACP’s national President and CEO, Benjamin Todd Jealous, said in a statement. “We are calling upon all Floridians to stand up for the rights of all Florida citizens and repeal this deplorable new law.”

Opponents also vowed that additional moves will be taken against the measure.

“We are confident that this bill, which is nothing more than a power-grab by Republicans, will be overturned by the courts and rejected by the U.S. Justice Department,” Florida Democratic Party Chairman Rod Smith said.

By Brandon Larrabee
The News Service of Florida