Florida

Florida’s Lukewarm Remedy for Chilly Early Voting Policies

Election Law Society · October 24, 2014 ·

By Nick Raffaele

While Florida’s relationship with early voting is still relatively new, the honeymoon may already be over. But to understand the hot and cold affair, it is helpful to look back on the couple’s history. Former Governor Jeb Bush first signed early voting into Florida law in 2004, providing early voting fifteen days before an election, eight hours per weekday and eight hours per weekend. Only a short year later, Bush and a Republican legislature cooled on the partnership, dropping the last Monday of early voting before a Tuesday election. The relations heated up again when former Governor Charlie Crist signed an executive order mandating that early voting be extended in response to overwhelming voter turnout for the 2008 Presidential election. Under the leadership of Governor Rick Scott, Florida again turned its back on early voting in 2011 by passing a controversial law that reduced early voting to eight days before an election for a minimum of six hours and a maximum of twelve hours per day. [Read more…] about Florida’s Lukewarm Remedy for Chilly Early Voting Policies

Gerrymandered or Court Ordered: The Second Re-Drawing Is the Charm for Florida’s Fifth

Election Law Society · September 26, 2014 ·

By: Jonathan Gonzalez

After the first round of judicial wrangling over two allegedly gerrymandered congressional districts, a Florida judge ordered on July 10^th 2014 that the Florida fifth and tenth districts be sent back to the drawing board. The dispute arose from the Florida House of Representative’s mandated redrawing of the state’s congressional districts under amendments to Florida’s constitution passed during the 2010 election cycle. The amendments were intended to ensure that legislative districts were drawn cohesively and without favoring any political party. The Republican controlled state legislature interpreted “cohesive” as a mandate to pack African American voters into one district.

The Plight of Third-Party Organizations attempting to Register Voters in Florida

Election Law Society · April 23, 2013 ·

by Aaron Carter, Associate Editor

Alberto, Ernesto, Florence and Valerie are all names of Atlantic Ocean hurricanes that have taken shape in 2012. As of now they are 4 of the 21 hurricanes we have seen this season. Hurricane season in Florida ranges from bad to worse depending on the storm systems that are cooked up in any given year. Still, a hurricane or any other type of force majeure will not exonerate a third party organization for not turning in voter registration forms within the 48-hour window provided under Fla. Stat. § 97.0575 and implementing rule 1S 2.042. HB1355, which passed in 2011 and amended the statute states, “[T]he fines provided in this subsection shall be reduced by three-fourths in cases in which the third party voter registration organization’s failure to deliver the voter registration application within the required timeframe is based upon force majeure or impossibility of performance.” Third-party organizations have been in a battle over various changes in election law the past two years. The regulations of third-party organizations registering voters in Florida have been adjudicated in court, but its effects may last until Election Day with significant consequences for a pivotal election. [Read more…] about The Plight of Third-Party Organizations attempting to Register Voters in Florida

Orlando’s redistricting advisory board may not please everyone

Election Law Society · November 30, 2011 ·

According to the 2010 census, the population of Orlando, FL has increased significantly over the past ten years, jumping from 185,951 in 2000 to a whopping 238,916 in 2010. This change in population has not occurred evenly over the city’s six districts, and new districts must be drawn as a remedy. This process is called redistricting.

Redistricting seeks to equalize representation in malapportioned districts. In Baker v. Carr and Reynolds v. Sims, two landmark United States Supreme Court decisions, the idea of equal representation came about through the notion of one person, one vote: “Whatever the means of accomplishment, the overriding objective must be substantial equality of population among the various districts, so that the vote of any citizen is approximately equal in weight to that of any other citizen in the State.”

In order to achieve a more even and representative portrait of Orlando, the Orlando City Council appointed a nine member board to handle the task of redistricting. In coming up with a proposed plan, the Redistricting Advisory Board also sought and received the input of many other Orlando citizens.

An article on Florida election law that does not contain the word “recount”

Election Law Society · November 17, 2011 ·

by John Loughney

In the cold, competitive (comfortingly predictable) world of election reform, two factions are locked in an epic, endless struggle, and both are positive the guys on the other side of the aisle threaten to undermine our cherished democratic system.

On one side, the shadowy Republicans—or so the Dems would have you believe—ruthlessly disenfranchise the poor, the pigmented, and the felonious. They callously seek to raise identification standards beyond all reason and whittle voting windows to woeful new lows.

On the other, the conniving Democrats—or so the GOP attests—are valiantly protecting nothing more than the madness of an election process riddled with voter fraud. They ignore how administrative inconsistencies have marred our legitimacy and skewed our tallies, how civics teachers run rampantly afoul of state election law, how…

Wait, civics teachers? [Read more…] about An article on Florida election law that does not contain the word “recount”