Justice Delayed to Thousands of Would-Be Voters in Florida
Tron Nick
10,000 New Registrations on Hold
On Friday, Florida Secretary of State Glenda Hood and the Broward, Duval, Miami-Dade, Orange, and Palm Beach County Supervisors of Elections delayed justice to Floridians wishing to vote in the November election by asking the judge to consider a motion to dismiss a case that would delay the court's decision on whether to disenfranchise thousands of voters. Today the first hearing was held in response to a lawsuit filed by Advancement Project, unions and other civil rights organizations seeking to preserve the voting rights of more than 10,000 Floridians who are eligible to vote and who registered to vote in advance of the October 4 deadline, but whose applications were deemed incomplete by the elections officials based on unduly restrictive registration procedures that violate federal election laws. Judith Browne, senior attorney, Advancement Project said "Today's actions demonstrate that the Secretary Hood and the Supervisors of Elections, are engaging in delay tactics that will disadvantage and possibly deny the right to vote to thousands of Floridians." The number of incomplete voter registration applications in Broward, Duval, Miami-Dade, Orange, and Palm Beach counties has a disparate impact on prospective Black and Latino voters. In Miami-Dade County alone, Blacks comprise more than 35 percent and Latinos more than 25 percent of applications deemed incomplete. In addition, due to the large number of registrations and the elections offices' inability to process these applications in a timely fashion, applicants have also been deprived of an opportunity to provide any missing information. The defendants have required that missing information, such as these unnecessary boxes and numbers, be provided by the October 4th deadline, yet they sent registrants notices too late to make a difference.
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