Voting battles - The State of Florida
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http://www.mercurynews.com/natbreakingnews/ci_9704807
Judge refuses to block Florida voter law
By BILL KACZOR Associated Press Writer
Article Launched: 06/26/2008 12:59:08 PM PDT
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.â€"A federal judge has refused to block a new version of a Florida voter registration law that critics say could keep thousands of people from casting ballots this year.
U.S. District Judge Stephan Mickle issued the ruling Tuesday in Gainesville. Last year, he granted a preliminary injunction against an earlier version of the law. He was reversed on appeal and the Legislature modified the law.
Both versions require elections officials to match Social Security, state identification or driver license numbers listed on voter registration applications with numbers in government databases.
"This ruling puts thousands of real Florida citizens at risk this November based on bureaucratic typos," lawyer Justin Levitt said Wednesday.
Levitt represents the Florida Conference of the National Association of Colored People and other groups challenging the law.
Under the new version, if the state is unable to match a number, an applicant can still register by providing verification of either his or her driver license, identity card or Social Security number regardless of which one was entered on the application.
The old version required that the number on the application had to be verifiedâ€"no substitutes allowed.
The lawsuit alleges both versions of the law violate citizens' constitutional rights to vote and equal protection under the law.
In rejecting a preliminary injunction against the new law, Mickle wrote
that challengers failed to establish a likelihood of prevailing on the constitutional issues that will be decided later. The judge also found that matching up identification is justified "by the state's compelling interest in fair and honest elections."
Judge refuses to block Florida voter law
By BILL KACZOR Associated Press Writer
Article Launched: 06/26/2008 12:59:08 PM PDT
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.â€"A federal judge has refused to block a new version of a Florida voter registration law that critics say could keep thousands of people from casting ballots this year.
U.S. District Judge Stephan Mickle issued the ruling Tuesday in Gainesville. Last year, he granted a preliminary injunction against an earlier version of the law. He was reversed on appeal and the Legislature modified the law.
Both versions require elections officials to match Social Security, state identification or driver license numbers listed on voter registration applications with numbers in government databases.
"This ruling puts thousands of real Florida citizens at risk this November based on bureaucratic typos," lawyer Justin Levitt said Wednesday.
Levitt represents the Florida Conference of the National Association of Colored People and other groups challenging the law.
Under the new version, if the state is unable to match a number, an applicant can still register by providing verification of either his or her driver license, identity card or Social Security number regardless of which one was entered on the application.
The old version required that the number on the application had to be verifiedâ€"no substitutes allowed.
The lawsuit alleges both versions of the law violate citizens' constitutional rights to vote and equal protection under the law.
In rejecting a preliminary injunction against the new law, Mickle wrote
that challengers failed to establish a likelihood of prevailing on the constitutional issues that will be decided later. The judge also found that matching up identification is justified "by the state's compelling interest in fair and honest elections."
When I went to the polls this primary, they just asked me for my address, and I called it off to them.
I often thought about how easy it would be for someone to cheat.
Anyway.
My NewVoters table has over 28,300 records (January-May 2008), some of which may be change of addresses. The Orange County, Florida VoterId number begins with a year and some of the new voters have VoterID numbers beginning with "2006" or "2007," instead of the expected "2008."
The June new voters data will be release the week of July 14.
ACORN/Project Vote and the Obama campaign are separately conducting large scale voter registration campaigns here.
In addition to voting rights, from a campaign perspective it is important that we stay in touch with these voters and make sure they vote and vote for the entire Democratic ticket all the way down the ballot.
Jim Callahan
Orlando, FL
The Republicans are trying to steal their third straight election.
We must say no.