The state of Florida once again violated its duty to ensure all eligible Floridians can participate in free, fair and safe elections. Thousands of eligible residents will not be able to participate in the November election.
Today’s ruling ensures the same rules apply to all remote voters who, in the midst of mail delays amid a pandemic, face tight deadlines returning their ballots to ensure they arrive at their local election office before the close of polls on Election Day.
Potentially thousands of voters were deprived of their right to vote because Florida was “unable to run a functional voter registration website” during the crucial final hours leading up to the registration deadline.
"We stress the urgency in resolving this matter and extending the voter registration deadline so that all eligible Floridians have the opportunity to vote and participate in the November 3 election.”
"In sending hundreds of thousands of voter registration applications to public assistance clients during a global pandemic, Kansas is doing exactly what the National Voter Registration Act intended and requires."
"At a time when people are struggling to find work and keep their families afloat, Missouri has chosen to make what should be the simple act of casting a ballot unnecessarily complicated and burdensome."
“The right to vote has never been more important, and access to voter registration is key to exercising that right...This lawsuit is necessary to ensure that South Dakotans can have their voices heard.”
The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has begun mailing voter registration forms to nearly 1.3 million Medicaid recipients who have had their benefits automatically renewed within the past year.
"As the court recognized, purging voters with no notice based on a system that disproportionately targets Black and brown voters violates our democratic principles and undermines the democratic process.”
States must now take swift action to design racially equitable voting systems—including dramatically scaling up vote by mail, while also maintaining accessible in-person voting—so communities are not disenfranchised this fall.
"I think they will ultimately be able to get mail ballots delivered for this election as well, despite the efforts of the Trump administration to slow that down or impede it."
“Trump will instigate intimidation and violence—possibly even using the military or federal agents—to suppress the vote in Black and brown communities."
"Our brief urges the court to end the wealth discrimination Florida created when it conditioned restoration of voting rights on the payment of financial penalties even for people with no ability to pay or no idea what the State thinks they owe."
FRRC offers this brief to make three points informed by its experience working with formerly convicted persons struggling to participate in Florida’s democracy under the strictures of SB7066.
Enacting these critical legislative measures would protect the integrity of the November election and counter the historical disenfranchisement of communities of color and voters with disabilities in America.
The policy platform outlines actions that address environmental justice, just recovery from disasters, equity accounting in climate policy, and energy democracy.
“The agreements we won in this case will protect Black and brown voters and all Floridians, ensuring they have multiple safe voting options and can be heard this November.”