Scott Signs Elections Bill

May 22, 2013

.Gov. Rick Scott’s office confirmed Tuesday that he quietly signed a bill Monday aimed at cleaning up the voting problems that plagued parts of the state during the November elections.

Scott apparently signed the legislation (HB 7013) before heading to Chile for a trade mission. But the governor’s office didn’t announce the signing until Tuesday afternoon.

“There were inefficiencies in the 2012 general election — and our system needed to be corrected,” Scott said in a statement issued by his office. “I asked the Legislature to enhance our system of elections and they met the challenge. This law will add more early voting locations, add more early voting days and shorten the length of our ballot.”

Elections reform vaulted to the top of legislative priorities after the November problems, which included some Florida voters not casting ballots until after television networks had projected President Barack Obama the winner nationwide. It also took days before Obama was declared the winner in Florida.

The bill would allow up to 14 days for early voting, though local supervisors could remain at the current eight days, and allows for more flexibility with early voting sites. It would limit the length of some ballot summaries for constitutional amendments.

And it would dissolve a committee that sets the date of the presidential primary and instead require that vote be held on the first Tuesday that complies with party rules. Both Republican and Democratic delegations to national conventions lost members over the last several years as Florida vied for earlier primary dates.

Democrats had consistently pushed for more far-reaching changes, arguing that the bill was essentially a series of tweaks and didn’t fix all the problems that they blamed on a 2011 law that restricted early voting and included a slew of other changes to Florida elections.

But most good-government groups applauded this year’s bill for the changes it made, and it nonetheless passed the House twice with all Democrats supporting it.

“Sometimes it felt like climbing a mountain with concrete boots, but with the governor’s signature on this election reform package, Florida has achieved what many of us thought at one time might be impossible: a huge improvement to our democratic process and a giant step forward for Florida voters,” said Deirdre Macnab, president of the League of Women Voters of Florida.

Except for a provision making sure the state’s gift ban for committees of continuous existence doesn’t lapse, which kicks in immediately, the bill takes effect Jan. 1.

by Brandon Larrabee, The News Service of Florida

Comments

2 Responses to “Scott Signs Elections Bill”

  1. bill on May 22nd, 2013 8:24 am

    The headline should read “Gov. Flim Flam signs elections bill that corrects the mistakes his previous election bill created”.

  2. Henry Coe on May 22nd, 2013 1:11 am

    I’m trying to remember the other problems created by the 2011 Voting Law changes. I think one them had to do with a change to absentee ballots and the other change I know had to do with stupid unnecessary fines for people doing voter registration drives, but I’m thinking those changes were deemed unconstitutional?
    The article should have stated what other changes Democrats wanted, that were not included in the bill “Fireman Bill” signed.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News