The Latest Sad Chapter in the Florida Handbook of Voter Suppression
April 20, 2011
Contact: media@aclufl.org
“Legislators have said this bill will ‘narrow the widows and tighten the controls’ of Florida’s elections. While that’s accurate, it’s also sad that this Legislature views democracy as something that needs to be narrowed and controlled.
“As we saw with the unnecessary effort to roll back the restoration of voting rights through Clemency, it’s crystal clear that the target is not just voting but creating barriers and obstacles to voting only for certain people. In this proposal, Florida’s students, racial minorities and veterans will be the victims of this unneeded tinkering.
"Any system that denies people the right to fill out a normal ballot is a recipe for disenfranchisement. And in the context of Florida’s tradition of stacking the election deck to favor candidates or enforce offensive Jim Crow principles, this effort is just the latest sad chapter in the Florida Handbook of Voter Suppression.
“The right to vote and free and fair access to the ballot box is the bedrock on with all our freedoms rest and this Legislature continues to chip away at the bedrock piece by piece.”
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