Posted on 11/09/2011 2:58:38 AM PST by Jacquerie
The right to vote is, and always has been, at the foundation of our democracy. But this fundamental right is under serious attack right now, in Florida and more than a dozen other states. Many believe a handful of super-rich conservative activists are behind an orchestrated effort to keep millions of seniors, younger voters and minorities from casting ballots next year.
Whether or not that’s true, a civics teacher at New Smyrna Beach High School in Florida was on the receiving end of just such an attack last month. The teacher, Jill Cicciarelli, ran afoul of Florida’s new election law while helping some of her students pre-register to vote.
I have met with her and some of her students, and it’s no surprise they’re not happy with the state’s new voting law. Neither is their local supervisor of elections, who under the law was required to report them to state authorities. Volusia County Supervisor of Elections Ann McFall says parts of the law are egregious and unenforceable.
So, it’s not just me who thinks this law is aimed at suppressing the vote. Look at what informed editorial writers have also had to say: The Orlando Sentinel said the new law “amounts to… ripping apart election laws” and “weakening democracy.” The Tampa Tribune said this bill “isn't fooling anybody. It's not about clean elections.” And Florida Today called it an “assault on the most cherished of American rights.”
In a nutshell, the Florida law reduces the number of days for early voting from 14 to eight and exposes people who register others to vote to harsh penalties even for innocent mistakes. That’s why the widely respected League of Women Voters has abandoned its voter registration drives in Florida after 72 years.
I wrote Gov. Rick Scott a letter last month asking him to support a revamping or repeal of the law. I also wrote U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, to ask that we conduct a congressional investigation to see if Florida’s law was part of a plan that led to similar voting law changes in more than a dozen other states this year. And I have asked the Justice Department to look into who’s behind these changes.
Please share this note with all of your friends, family and colleagues. Regardless of your political party, I hope you’ll join me in trying to protect everybody’s right to vote.
Thanks for getting involved,
No, according to him, reducing early voting from two weeks to one qualifies for a DOJ investigation. This guy is a goner next year.
Where does he find the “right to vote” in the Constitution?
“Boo-hoo...mean Republicans won’t let us commit massive voter fraud!”
LLS
Nelson represents exactly what our founding generation feared, a party of demagogues whose purpose is not to secure our unalienable rights, but rather to divide the people, keep them agitated and striking out at imaginary enemies rather than focus on the problem.
Amen!
LLS
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