TALLAHASSEE, FL - The Florida legislature today voted to pass Senate Bill 90, a bill that would create new restrictions on Floridians’ ability to vote by mail. It would require voters to submit vote-by-mail requests each election cycle, restrict secure vote-by-mail drop boxes, and demand sensitive personal information from voters requesting a mail ballot. Like the law recently passed in Georgia, this bill also criminalizes people who provide food or water to Floridians waiting in line to vote.
Kara Gross, legislative director and senior policy counsel of the ACLU of Florida, responded with the following statement:
“With the passage SB90, Florida has become another willful accomplice to voter suppression. It has become the most recent state to impose restrictions on the fundamental right to vote following the high turnout of voters in 2020.
“However, creating barriers to the ballot is not a new tactic. Whether it was counting bubbles on a bar of soap during the Jim Crow era, or unnecessary ID laws today, some politicians have always tried to suppress the right to vote. Limiting ballot drop box availability, creating hardships for individuals to request and return a vote-by-mail ballot, and inciting voter challenges are purposeful tactics to limit participation. Like its predecessors, the unnecessary restrictions imposed by this bill will disproportionately impact voters of color, voters with disabilities, elderly voters, and low-income voters. Simply put, SB90 is undemocratic to its core.
“Rather than moving forward and tackling the issues facing our state and dealing with the effects of the largest public health crisis of our lifetime, certain legislators are silencing Flordians by restricting access to the ballot box. Our elected officials should not be making it harder for Floridians to lawfully exercise their right to vote. It is a sad day for our democracy.”
