Election Reform Coalition of Pinellas County FL

Unnecessary FL Voting Restrictions When Voter Fraud is Not a Problem

Fri, 22 Apr 2011 13:50:00 +0000

Alarming legislation that unfairly overhauls Florida’s election laws -- under such false pretenses as voter fraud -- continues to move forward. Provisions in the highly partisan Senate and House bills would disenfranchise a broad spectrum of voters.

Sponsored by Republicans, both House Bill 1355 and Senate Bill 2086 would force voters to cast provisional ballots if they moved to another county since last voting and did not register their new address with the elections office. Provisional ballots are only tallied under certain circumstances. The most likely voters to change addresses more often than others are military personnel, college students and lower-income citizens. Their provisional ballots could end up shelved.

The Senate version adds a particularly objectionable element -- anyone whose name changed from their previous voter registration would also have to vote provisionally. This clearly targets newly married women, adding gender warfare to this woeful legislation.

Florida has allowed voters to update their addresses and names at polling places since 1973, and the state elections office did not receive a single accusation of voter fraud in the 2010 election involving voters who changed either their name, address or party affiliation.

The probability of fraud is extremely low thanks to a statewide database that poll workers check to verify voter eligibility.

This is a solution in search of a problem that does not exist.

SB 2086 also slashes the early voting period in half, from two weeks to one. Early balloting proved extremely popular in 2008 with long lines. Florida’s Division of Elections has reported that almost 20 percent of the voters in the 2012 general election took advantage of early balloting.

In Manatee County, that second week of early voting produced a much larger response than the first one. Two weeks offers greater convenience and shorter lines -- and appeals to voters. SB 2086 puts a crimp on that.

A third troubling attack on the electorate puts tighter restrictions on grass roots organizations that promote voter registration with drives, which often target minority and low-income communities.

The House bill cuts the time frame that the groups must submit voter forms to elections departments after the applicant signs the document from 10 days to 48 hours -- or get punished with a $50-a-day fine for every tardy application. This difficult decree will discourage these organizations -- many nonpartisan -- from participating in voter drives,

But this provision does not apply to the established political parties, thereby establishing a double standard.

All of this equals voter suppression and disenfranchisement.

After rancorous debate, the House passed its bill Thursday. Should the Senate approve its version and the two are united in conference, Florida will take a step backwards and become a state hostile to the democratic process.

FL GOP Voter Suppression Laws Pushed though No Real Voter Fraud

Fri, 22 Apr 2011 13:00:00 +0000

The Florida House passed its version of a controversial rewrite of state election laws, which Republican supporters said was intended to ensure the integrity of the state’s voting system.

“This is a great country, our vote is precious and we’re going to protect it,” said Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, the sponsor of the measure.

Democrats contended the measure was aimed at solving “an imaginary problem” with a measure that would stifle the vote going into the 2012 elections. They questioned why Republicans were pushing provisions that would make it more difficult for voters to change their addresses on election day and impose tight deadlines and new registration requirements on groups that sign up new voters.

“I’ve figured it out,” said Rep. Mark Pafford, D-West Palm Beach. “We’re afraid that the people are going to figure out what’s been going on here [in Tallahassee] for the last few weeks.”

Republicans have yet to illustrate a systemic problem of fraud that the bill would help prevent, though Eric Eisnaugle, R-Orlando, contended that investigations by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement turned up some instances. In one case, someone tried to sign up an unnamed dead actor. Petition gatherers have attempted to add students to the voter rolls without their knowledge during ballot initiatives. “In another case,” he said, “Mickey Mouse was registered to vote.”

Here’s what happened several years ago with Mr. Mouse, according to a St. Petersburg Times article published at the time:

Mickey Mouse tried to register to vote in Florida this summer.

Orange County elections officials rejected his application, which was stamped with the logo of the nonprofit group ACORN.

More recently, the Times reported:

A spokesman for Secretary of State Kurt Browning, the state’s chief elections official, said that in 2010, no cases of voter fraud were referred to the agency concerning voters changing their name, address or political party affiliation at a polling place.

Again, today:

Secretary of State Kurt Browning, who has served under two Republican governors, has repeatedly said Florida’s state-of-the-art electronic voter database that requires a four-digit unique numerical match for every voter has virtually eliminated fraud. In 2009, Browning’s office said state voter registration laws ensure that only eligible people can vote.

“We have to know where this fraud is happening,” said Matt Gaetz, R-Shalimar. “I think if Rep. Baxley’s good bill passes, then we’ll have a better sense of where that fraud occurs.”

Gaetz compared the bill to a pill mill measure the House passed earlier that day.

“Does every problem have to reach that level of magnitude before we can get buy-in on the notion that reform needs to happen in our state?” he asked. “I certainly hope not.”

By Travis Pillow | 04.22.11 | 9:51 am

http://floridaindependent.com/27816/voter-rights-suppression-fraud

"Fair Districts" Wins by Majority Vote in 2010

Wed, 03 Nov 2010 02:04:00 +0000

Five years ago the Election Reform Coalition formed to identify voting problems in Florida and offer solutions to improve the voting process.

In our 2005 Report we recommended "Amending the Florida Constitution for Non-Partisan Redistricting".

Amendments 5 & 6 were approved by Florida Voters on November 2, 2010.

The Fair Districts Organization (http://www.fairdistrictsflorida.org/home.php) led the way in making the amendment happen.

The Election Reform Coalition was among the supporters of these amendments.

Sign Your Mail-in Ballot... so vote is counted

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 21:05:00 +0000

Voters beware! please sign your absentee ballots or they will not count.

Supervisors of Elections across Florida are warning those with absentee ballots to sign the ballots themselves.

Many ballots canvassed today were rejected because they had no signature.

Concerns about Early Voting Suppression, lack of sites in Pinellas County

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 20:10:00 +0000

Watch Video at YouTube

Concern in Pinellas County about early voting sites

Video

Reported by: Keith Baker
Email: kbaker@abcactionnews.com
Last Update: 11:50 am

Voters wait in line at a Largo early voting location

PINELLAS COUNTY, FL -- Some voters in Pinellas County are concerned about the number of locations for early voting with only three sites. As a result of the robust turnout, voters are upset, saying they feel their right to vote early is being suppressed.

More than 600,000 are registered to vote in Pinellas County, with many voters opting to vote early creating lines in some cases.

One voter says a woman in a wheelchair couldn't wait for the hour it was taking to move through so she left the line and was joined by two others.

A Democratic National Committee leader is calling for a Grand Jury to investigate Pinellas and Manatee Counties to find out why so few voting locations were assigned for early voting.

The Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections said she didn't feel there was any merit to the need for an investigation and is confident that the current early voting program is in the best interest of Pinellas County.

Manatee County has one early voting location. The other counties with the number of designated early voting locations in the Tampa Bay Region are:

Hillsborough 13

Sarasota 7

Pasco 7

Polk 6

103 Hillsborough County absentee ballots flagged so far

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 20:00:00 +0000

Video

Reported by: Don Germaise
Email: dgermaise@abcactionnews.com
Last Update: 5:57 am

TAMPA, FL -- 103 absentee ballots out of 10,000 filed so far in Hillsborough County have been flagged for irregularities. The Hillsborough County Canvassing Board rejected 91 of those, saying they will not count in the November 4th General Election.

Canvassing Board member Kevin White told ABCActionNews.com that 51 of 103 ballots canvassed today were rejected because they had no signature.

White, who is a Hillsborough County Commissioner, is warning those with absentee ballots to sign the ballots themselves, or they will not count.

Other problems with the ballots were signatures that didn't match what was on file and signatures that didn't match the name on the ballot.

Voters to Florida Secretary of State Browning: No Match - No Vote is Bad Enough

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 22:45:00 +0000

Voters to Florida Secretary of State Browning: No Match - No Vote is Bad Enough, Don't Make It Worse

Florida
By Florida Voters Coalition
October 02, 2008
Florida Voter Groups Praise County Supervisors For Helping Voters Urge State to Clear The Path Voting rights advocates today called on Secretary of State Kurt Browning to allow county Supervisors of Elections to implement the No Match ? No Vote law in a way that reduces burdens on voters and increases the chances that unmatched voters who show photo ID at the polls will have their votes counted. Groups praised county Supervisors for making efforts to allow voters to resolve failed matches by showing identification when they appear to vote at Early Voting and on Election Day. ?We believe that the county Supervisors of Elections are doing their best to ensure that no eligible voter has their vote needlessly thrown out because of bureaucratic red tape,? said Jean Robert LaFortune, President of the Haitian-American Grassroots Coalition, a plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging the no-match law. ?This is expected to be a very busy election, with huge voter turnout, and with so much to do in so little time, Supervisors trying to help voters can?t afford wasted efforts, They should be permitted to allow unmatched voters to correct their matching deficiency at the polls on Election Day and vote with a regular ballot,? LaFortune said. ?We are concerned that Secretary Browning will prevent Supervisors from allowing unmatched voters to resolve registration issues at the polls,? said Adam Skaggs of The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, co-counsel in a lawsuit challenging the no-match law. ?If voters are forced to take a second step at another time to show their identification, it punishes them and doesn?t stop voter fraud, which is what this law was supposed to be about. Secretary Browning should not prevent Supervisors from doing everything they can to ensure that eligible voters, who have proven their identity by showing photo ID, can cast a regular ballot and have their votes counted like everyone else,? Skaggs said.
Read more...

ACLU and Advancement Project Issue Guide to Florida?s ?No Match? Laws

Florida
By ACLU and Advancement Project
September 29, 2008
View Questions and Answers About Florida's "No Match" Law The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida and the Washington, D.C.-based Advancement Project today issued a guide to Florida?s ?no match? law. The guide, written in question and answer format, will be distributed throughout Florida, and can be downloaded from the ACLU website. Secretary of State Kurt Browning began enforcing Florida?s ?no match? law on September 8. Since then, rumors misstating the impact of the law have been swirling. ?The Secretary of State?s decision to implement this law on the eve of the election, and less than a month before the voter registration deadline, has resulted in widespread and unnecessary confusion.? said Muslima Lewis, Director of the ACLU of Florida?s Voting Rights Project. ?Further, the ?no match? law unnecessarily prevents thousands of eligible Floridians from being registered to vote. Proponents of the law now argue that the law is necessary to prevent voter fraud, but this argument is specious and unfounded since there is virtually no evidence of voter fraud in Florida.?
Read more...

ERC Pinellas Observe Tabulations at the Pinellas Supervisor of Election Election Day

Tue, 07 Nov 2006 18:00:12 +0000

With Election Day came the opportunity for the Election Reform Coalition of Pinellas County Florida to obtain access to observe inside the secured tabulation room of the Pinellas Supervisor of Elections Office. (Photo Above L-R) Present were Michael Gilson, Chair of the Libertarian Party of Pinellas County, Len Schmiege from the Citizen Vote Verification Group (CVVG) and ERCP Member Bill Bucolo (standing).

Michael Gilson interacted with Pamela Haengel, President of the Voting Integrity Alliance of Tampa Bay Florida a non-partisan, grassroots citizens' group dedicated to election reform. Ms. Haengel expressed concerns that although we could see into the room, there could still be security issues that could happen unseen by those present at the Supervisor of Elections office. (Photo on the right)

Computer software design engineer, Vincent J. Lipsio came down to Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections from Gainesville Florida to observe vote tabulations. Mr. Lipsio was instrumental in developing and recommending high security standards for the computerized voting machines, expressing to ERC Pinellas member, Michael Gilson that many critical security and other recommendations by him were not implemented in the final approved standards.