Hearing in Tampa focuses on contentious voting law

Florida's new election law, which critics say is a thinly disguised Republican effort to suppress likely Democratic voters, will be the focus of a U.S. Senate committee meeting today in Tampa.

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, brings the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights here for a 1 p.m. hearing at the George E. Edgecomb Courthouse. The committee will hear public testimony from interested groups, but witness lists have not been released.

The focus of the hearing will be Florida House Bill 1355, which Gov. Rick Scott signed into law in May. The law puts in place stringent requirements for individuals and third-party groups who register new voters, with hefty fines or prison time for those who violate the rules.

For instance, volunteers who register voters who are not their family members must sign up with the state and must turn in voter registration forms within 48 hours of obtaining the signatures. The previous time frame for submitting new voter forms was 10 days.

Volunteer registrars first must sign an oath warning of prison time and/or hefty fines if they violate the rules.

Because of the new restrictions, the League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan group that has been registering voters in Florida for 72 years, suspended its efforts.

The league and Rock the Vote, a group that focuses on registering young voters, have challenged the law in court.

"Overall, it creates a mountain of risk and red tape that has proved insurmountable to grass-roots groups like the League of Women Voters that has thousands of volunteers willing to work five hours on weekends to register voters," said Deirdre Macnab, president of the league in Florida.

State Rep. Dennis Baxley, an Ocala Republican who sponsored the House bill, could not be reached for comment. But in a published news report, Baxley said volunteers who take information from potential voters must be held accountable if the information is incorrect and also must turn in the information in a timely manner.

The bill also shortens the early-voting period before an election from 14 days to eight. However, that rule change does not apply to Hillsborough and four other Florida counties with histories of discrimination. Voters still have 14 days of early balloting in those counties.

And voters who have moved to an address outside the county they were previously registered in now can cast only provisional ballots, which are counted after the election is over. Previously, they could update their new address at the polls and vote.

Florida is one of 14 states that have passed new election laws in recent years with similar provisions.

Democratic critics suggest the laws were covertly engineered by wealthy Republicans to suppress voting by minorities, college students and poor people, who some believe are likely to vote Democratic.

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat, expressed such concerns when he asked Durbin to bring his subcommittee to Florida.

"First and foremost we want to take a look at what was the reasoning behind all these new laws in all these states," said Bryan Gulley, Nelson's press secretary. "Bill is also interested in whether they're part of some sort of orchestrated effort to suppress voters and, if so, were any of those actions illegal."

Though the witness lists have not been publicized, Durbin made public a letter he wrote inviting the governor. Scott's office said he will not attend.

"(Scott) is focused on passing meaningful jobs legislation, education and PIP (personal injury protection insurance) reform and respectfully declines to further explain a law he didn't write," Jackie Schutz, Scott's deputy press secretary, wrote in an email to The Tampa Tribune.

Schutz went on to say that Scott fully supports the legislation he signed and believes it "protects the rights of voters."

The hearing is in courtroom 1 in the Edgecomb building at 800 E. Twiggs St.