|
Senate Bill 7050 will be heard by the full Florida Senate TOMORROW (April 26, 2023) and likely voted upon the following day.
Senate Bill 7050 (and House Bill 7067) are 90+ page bills which include more barriers to conducting voter-registration drives, modify the use of mail-in ballots, implement steeper fines for community based registration groups (like the League) that make any wrong steps, and add potential that voters could see their ballots trashed.
League and community registration group impacts:
-
Senate Bill 7050 dramatically increase fines and put in place harsh deadlines for community-based voter registration organizations, making it even harder and more intimidating for them to continue supporting voters. The fines coupled with shorter deadlines will especially impact smaller organizations who are often closest to marginalized communities. This is all deliberately designed to have a chilling effect on community-based voter registration.
- Senate Bill 7050 would also require community voter registration groups to provide a receipt to the voter and this receipt must include the name of the individual who registered the voter. After the targeting and prosecution of mistaken voters over the past year by the state’s election police, it appears the state is now looking to target people out in the community helping voters. These receipts will do nothing to help voters. Instead of focusing on penalizing organizations who register voters, lawmakers should focus on protecting voters by either moving the antiquated voter registration book closing date closer to election day or getting rid of it altogether.
- The legislature is limiting access to community-based voter registration organizations, but they are NOT increasing resources for community outreach on voter registration by county elections offices. This will make it harder to register to vote for people who don’t have a Florida driver license or Florida state ID (and thus cannot use the Online Voter Registration system).
Vote-by-mail & election administration impacts:
- Senate Bill 7050 reduces the time that a voter has to request a ballot be mailed to them and also require voters to file cumbersome emergency affidavits just to pick up a vote-by-mail ballot from the Supervisor of Elections office during early voting. Even one change to policies relating to vote-by-mail can create confusion and a number of minor changes can add up creating significant barriers. Election officials are still having difficulties implementing vote-by-mail provisions from the last two election bills.
- The legislation as written includes an attempt to pass the buck and put responsibility on the voter to navigate the labyrinthine election code to determine their voting eligibility. If you have to hire a lawyer to determine your eligibility, that is clearly an unfair barrier to voting. Determining eligibility is and should be the responsibility of the state.
- Senate Bill 7050 increases the administrative and reporting burdens on already under-staffed and under-resourced election offices, adding a host of additional requirements with increasingly tight timeframes and fiscal obligations. At the same time, it reduces oversight on electioneering organizations and campaign finance by reducing their reporting requirements. That is not a recipe for a secure, well-run election!
Senate Bill 7050 is a punitive assault against groups, most of them staffed by volunteers, that try to register voters and the voters themselves. This bill is an attack on the League's core work and all of Florida's voters.
We're urging every Florida League member to contact members of the Florida Senate and encourage them to vote "NO" on Senate Bill 7050.
| 
