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Lawsuit Challenges State Voter Registration Rule

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By DAVID ROYSE The Associated Press

Published: September 18, 2007

TALLAHASSEE - Thousands of legitimate voters were prevented from registering to cast ballots in Florida because of a state law that should be thrown out, the NAACP and other groups said in a federal lawsuit filed Monday.

The law prevents residents from signing up to vote if driver's license or Social Security information in state databases does not match what is on the registration form. The groups who sued said state databases contain many errors.

Opponents of the law say it and similar requirements in a number of states have caused many difficulties for would-be voters. The groups said in the lawsuit that people trying to register have been thwarted by things as simple as having a maiden name on a driver's license instead of a married name, or database input errors that make one digit wrong in a birth date.

The lawsuit claims that more than 20,000 people had their voter registration either slowed down or denied because of difficulties in matching registration data with information in Florida in 2006.

The law 'creates an illegal precondition to registering the state's voters ... that will unlawfully disenfranchise thousands of Florida citizens in the 2008 election cycle,' the lawsuit said.

'Applicants who are not 'matched' will not be allowed to cast a valid ballot unless they overcome a series of burdensome bureaucratic hurdles that deprive them of their fundamental right to vote,' the lawsuit continues.

The process is faulty in part because it is too subject to user error, the lawsuit said. For example, people would have their application thrown out if they fill out a registration form and accidentally reverse a couple of digits in their 13-digit driver's license number, the suit said.

In addition to the Florida State Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, plaintiffs include the Haitian-American Grassroots Coalition.

Secretary of State Kurt Browning, who oversees Florida compliance with election laws, said officials work to resolve any discrepancies, but noted that the matching program is a requirement of the federal government.

'I will reiterate that it is the intention of the Department of State to make sure that every eligible voter in the state of Florida has the means and the opportunity to register to vote and to cast a ballot,' Browning said in a statement released by his office.

'Florida law is based on the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), which requires verification of voter registration information,' Browning's statement said. 'This is supported by the Elections Assistance Commission and the Department of Justice. If a discrepancy arises, every Florida voter has the opportunity to provide verification of eligibility.

'I have every confidence that Florida is complying with all state and federal laws,' Browning concluded.

Gov. Charlie Crist said Monday that he wasn't familiar with the lawsuit.

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