Election Reform

House Bill 1355 was an omnibus elections bill that contained numerous changes to Florida elections laws. It was passed by the Legislature during the 2011 legislative session and was signed into law by Gov. Rick Scott.

The provisions of the law include placing new reporting requirements on third-party voter registration organizations, which subject groups such as the League of Women Voters of Florida to fines if they do not turn in completed voter registration forms within 48 hours. The law requires groups that register voters to sign up with the state and list officers and the names and addresses of all members who will be registering voters. It requires anyone who is registering voters to swear an oath to uphold state election laws. The law also shortens the number of days allowed for early voting from 14 to 8. The law prohibits voters who live outside the county in which they are registered from changing their address at the polls and requires that these voters cast a provisional ballot.

The League worked hard to defeat this legislation and remains strongly opposed to the provisions of the new law. The League participated in press events and prepped members of both the House and Senate with questions and talking points for debate. The League was successful in helping mount a spirited debate in the House with an eye toward laying the groundwork for a future legal challenge to the third-party voter registration section of the law. The League successfully challenged similar legislation that was passed in 2005.

UPDATE

On May 31, 2012 Judge Robert Hinkle of the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Florida blocked enforcement of key provisions of Florida's controversial election law, HB1355, which places onerous restrictions on community-based voter registration drives. "Together speech and voting are constitutional rights of special significance; they are the rights most protective of all others, joined in this respect by the ability to vindicate one's rights in a federal court...[W]hen a plaintiff loses an opportunity to register a voter, the opportunity is gone forever," Hinkle wrote in his opinion blocking most of the Florida law. "And allowing responsible organizations to conduct voter-registration drives -- thus making it easier for citizens to register and vote -- promotes democracy."

On June 6, 2012 the League of Women Voters of Florida announced that it would resume voter registration.

Currently, the Florida legislature is considering legislation that would reform our state's elections process by: increasing the allowable time period for early voting, adding additional early voting sites and limiting the length of legislatively-written constitutional amendment summaries.

TAKE ACTION

SEND a letter-to-the-editor to your local news outlet expressing your desire to see substantive election reform passes during the 2013 session. Click here to see some sample letters that you can use a template.

DONATE to the League of Women Voters of Florida Advocacy Fund to help us continue our fight for voting rights in the Sunshine State.
 

USEFUL RESOURCES

For more information on the 2011 elections law (HB1355), check out our PowerPoint presentation "Roadmap For Election Reform: What Citizens Can Do".

To download a report on the impact on HB1355 on the 2012 general election, please click here.

Finally, visit our Speakers Bureau page to view the League's current presentation on Election Reform in Florida.

TALKING POINTS

To find the League's positions and talking points on election reform bills this session, please click here.