Voter Protection Victories

Voter Protection Victories

Groups Stop Massive Voter Suppression Bill in Florida

FLORIDA – In February, in the aftermath of the 2008 presidential election, Advancement Project and other voter protection groups decided to advocate for legislation that would expand access to the vote.

However, the groups soon found themselves mired in a struggle, which was ultimately successful, to prevent the enactment of several voter-suppression bills. During the months of battle, Advancement Project’s Florida Advocate, Carolyn Thompson, spearheaded a move to expand the coalition of groups involved in this work to include immigrant rights groups, environmental groups, disabled advocacy groups, students and members of the LGBT community.

“We realized that we needed to do legislative work because disenfranchised communities don’t have a voice in Tallahassee, the state capitol. Advancement Project became that voice on behalf of disenfranchised voters.”

The coalition of national and state-based groups included: the Florida State Conference of the Florida NAACP, the ACLU of Florida, SEIU, the AFL-CIO of Florida, Equality Florida, the Haitian American Grassroots Coalition, Democracia, Florida Immigrant Coalition, the Miami Workers Center, Progress Vote, Black Youth Vote, Common Cause, Florida PIRG, AFSCME and the League of Women Voters.

“For the first time in history we had immigrant rights organizations, labor unions, the LGBT groups, civil rights groups, disability groups and students sitting down with the secretary of state to demand legislation to expand early voting,” Thompson said.

In February, Advancement Project arranged a meeting between Florida Secretary of State Kurt Browning and the coalition to urge him to include expansion of early voting, among other issues, as part of his proposed election reform bill. The effort represented the first time voter-protection groups representing communities of color had met with the secretary of state to seek his support for reform of the election code. While supportive of early voting, Secretary Browning did not amend his bill to include the coalition’s requests. Nevertheless, the legislature did not introduce Secretary Browning’s proposed bill.

In mid-March, Westfall and Thompson were invited to speak before the Democratic House Caucus to talk about election reforms. Westfall and Thompson asked the legislators to support an expansion of early voting and provided members with draft legislative language.

At the end of March, Advancement Project and the other groups found that partisan operatives in the Senate and the House had introduced voter suppression bills--Senate Bill 956 and House Bill 1749--that would have further restricted access to the vote among People of Color.

Advancement Project Senior Attorney Kathryn Boockvar said the problematic bills would’ve put numerous restrictions on voters and voter-registration groups that would have unfairly disenfranchised many Floridians. In addition, the bills would have interfered with the ability of voter-protection advocates to assist voters at the polls.

“The bills [in the Senate and the House] literally amended more than 50 different statutes related to voting. It went from being: this is kind of bad, to this is awful,” said Boockvar.

Some of the changes in the versions included:

Disallowing photo identification from senior centers as an acceptable form of identification.

Requiring that any change of address be updated at the board of election at least 29 days before any election.

Requiring that third-party voter-registration forms be turned into election officials within 48 hours of completion. (Unlimited fines could ensue for violators of this proposal.)

Prohibiting voter advocates from coming within 100 feet of any voters in line at the polls.

“Advancement Project tried to hit it on all fronts,” said Boockvar. “We sent letters to legislators. We appeared at Senate committee meetings. We helped mobilize coalition action by drafting and disseminating action alerts and press releases.”

The legislature only allowed a few minutes of public comment during hearings when the bills were in committee. “They wouldn’t even let the legislators debate it,” she said. “It was a complete attempt to steamroll it through.”

The coalition of groups that opposed the legislation had grown to 33 organizations—all of which participated in a conference call about ways to organize opposition to these bills.

Advancement Project met with state Senators Arthenia Joyner and Nan Rich who were members of the Senate Ethics and Elections Committee about ways to promote an early voting bill.

While advocating legislation that would expand the franchise, Advancement Project continued work to oppose Senate Bill 956 and House Bill 1749. The coalition of groups that opposed the bills had grown to 42 and Advancement Project enlisted those groups to sign a letter calling on Gov. Charlie Crist to oppose the bills and support an early voting bill that would clear voting barriers experienced by voters in 2008.

Crist indicated he would veto the voter-suppression bills if they crossed his desk.

Elizabeth Westfall, director of Advancement Project’s Voter Protection Program, went on a radio tour to talk to Floridians about opposing the legislation.

In addition, a letter from the coalition went out to all senators and the governor. An editorial board memo Advancement Project drafted led to editorials appearing in newspapers opposing the bill throughout the state.

“Editorials were all in our favor throughout the state,” said Boockvar. “They all had a huge effect on killing the bills.”

The coalition of groups sent out alerts to their members, which resulted in hundreds of calls and e-mails being received by the Senate and House Elections Committee.

Even though there was an effort to push the proposed legislation through to the floor quickly for a vote—the bills died. “They abandoned the pursuit,” Boockvar said.

Thompson noted that the House democrats attached 100 amendments to HB 1749—which was part of their strategy to keep the bill from being voted on before the session ended.

The advocates will continue monitoring legislative activity as revised versions of these bills are expected to be reintroduced in 2010.

“The coalition activity and communication was really terrific and played a huge role in defeating this bill,” said Boockvar. “If more problematic legislation emerges, we’ll have to move quickly as we did this time to mobilize voters.”

Pennsylvania Voting ID Law Blocked

PENNSYLVANIA - In late March, Advancement Project learned that the Pennsylvania legislature was considering a bill that would require all voters to show a photo ID every time they vote. Under current law, only first-time voters have to show a photo ID to vote.

Well aware that such laws would unfairly disenfranchise People of Color, the poor and the elderly, who are far less likely to have driver’s licenses or an acceptable photo ID, Advancement Project and other voting rights groups and civil rights groups jumped into action.

“We found out in late March that this new voter ID bill had been introduced requiring photo ID from all voters,” said Kathryn Boockvar, an Advancement Project senior attorney. “We and partners from all over the state collaborated in producing a massive public outreach campaign, calling state senators telling everybody we could think of.”

Advocates for Senate Bill 514 argued that the law they sought was intended to protect the vote, implying that voter impersonation was a problem. However, there were no instances of voter impersonation in Pennsylvania in the 2008 general election and scant evidence of it occurring in prior elections. Furthermore, said Boockvar, there are already laws protecting against fraud.

The bill had the real potential to shrink the franchise and make it harder for certain Pennsylvanians to vote. About 25 percent of African Americans, 15 percent of poor Americans, and 20 percent of senior citizens are without current photo ID. The implications of such a bill on those populations would obviously inhibit many from voting.

Boockvar drafted a strongly worded letter, sent to state legislators, opposing SB 514. About 20 organizations including the ACLU of Pennsylvania, Democracy Rising PA, Common/Cause PA, the Disability Voting Coalition of Pennsylvania, and the NAACP National Voter Fund signed the letter.

In April, Advancement Project was pleased to find out that the senate committee that sponsored the bill was shelving it. “It was a huge victory for the voters,” said Boockvar.

She has since talked with the chair of the senate committee, Chuck McIlhinney Jr., who told her the Senate is: “going to reintroduce a different variation of the bill that will be much more benign.”

“He said they’re going to get rid of everything everyone was upset about,” Boockvar said.

Despite the victory, voting-rights advocates will have to be vigilant for the bill, once it’s revived, to see what emerges, and fight it again, if necessary, said Boockvar. “We’ll have to see what comes up next,” she said.

ENDS

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