The law is unconstitutional, a federal judge rules, as Curt Anderson of the Associated Press reports:
A federal judge on Monday declared a new Florida voter registration law unconstitutional, ruling that its stiff penalties for violations threaten free speech rights and that political parties were improperly exempted.
The 48-page ruling by U.S. District Judge Patricia Seitz means that state authorities cannot enforce the provisions of the law. It took effect Jan. 1 and has been blamed by several labor unions and nonprofit groups for effectively blocking voter registration drives across the state because of the financial risk."If third-party voter registration organizations permanently cease their voter registration efforts, Florida citizens will be stripped of an important means and choice of registering to vote and of associating with one another," Seitz wrote.
Read the rest at link above. It should be noted that a main purpose of this law was to prevent people from signing up others as "registered voters," and then not turning in the forms. It's an excreable practice, which will now continue, if anyone accidentally thought the League of Women Voters of Florida, the Florida AFL-CIO, and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees were suddenly on the side of people's right to vote.
This judge was appointed by Clinton. Well, duh.
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Florida, General politics
