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Statement on Withdrawal of Voter Suppresion Changes from DOJ
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2011 Press Releases
Statement on Withdrawal of Voter Suppresion Changes from DOJ
July 29, 2011
Contact: ACLU of Florida Media Office, (786) 363-2737, media@aclufl.org
Today the Florida Secretary of State announced the state was withdrawing key portions of the Voter Suppression Act (HB1355) from consideration by the Department of Justice and instead seeking a new review of those provisions by a federal court in the District of Columbia.
A statement from Howard Simon, Executive Director of the ACLU of Florida is below. The ACLU of Florida has a pending suit against the law in federal court seeking an injunction to block implementation of the bill statewide until it has been approved as being compliant with the Voting Rights Act. Today’s move will delay that process beyond the original, expected August 8th decision by the DOJ.
From Howard Simon:
“With the August 8th decision looming, Rick Scott and Kurt Browning clearly thought they were going to lose so they’ve resorted to these last second legal shenanigans and are trying to start over somewhere else.
“By making this move, the Governor has exposed the taxpayers to a much longer, more costly legal fight to defend his indefensible Voter Suppression law. It’s should be as clear as ever that they will spend whatever it takes and do whatever they can to restrict the right to vote and stack the deck for the 2012 election and beyond.
“It’s not a coincidence that, confronted with a buzz-saw of public outrage, the Governor and his Secretary of State have asked the Department of Justice to stop reviewing the very four voting changes we maintain are designed to suppress the vote.
“In addition to the extra costs to taxpayers, this new move by the Governor will keep in place indefinitely a bizarre and illogical system of different rules for registering and voting depending on where you live.
“We will continue to expose and fight the regressive changes in the Voter Suppression Act. We are now discussing with our lawyers an intervention in the new legal fight the state started today.”
