Black Lawmaker Blasts Fla. Election Law Overhaul

FORT LAUDERDALE - Leaders in Florida have are trying to build awareness among African-American voters and local lawmakers in the state about the impact that proposed new voting regulations would have on minorities and low-income people.

Five Florida counties are covered by Section 5 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which requires the Justice Department to pre-clear voting law changes.

A group of civil rights groups, including the Brennan Center for Justice and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law, have written to the Department of Justice, urging the agency to reject Florida’s new law.

Black Florida Congressman Alcee Hastings, Senior Member of the House Rules Committee, said, “On May 19th, Florida Governor Rick Scott signed into law an egregious bill attacking from all angles one of the most fundamental rights of our democracy: the right to vote."

“The transgressions contained in this bill are not minor inconveniences but elements of a systematic attack against the voting rights of minorities both in Florida and across the country. Since the adoption of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 , the Department of Justice (DOJ) has intervened over 400 times across the country for unconstitutionally infringing on the voting rights of minorities. Governor Scott’s law needs to be added to the list."

Hastings continued, “The bill that Governor Scott and Florida Republicans have forced into law is nothing more than a backdoor poll tax. It limits access to the polls for minorities, seniors, and college students. In particular, it reduces the number of early voting days and imposes new restrictive regulations on voter registration groups. Governor Scott and the Republican-led Florida legislature have sold out the most basic rights of Florida’s voters in a brazen act of political gamesmanship reminiscent of Reconstruction."

Hastings concluded by saying, “To Governor Scott, I say: We have seen what you’ve done, we are furious, and we will not let this go!”