No-Match-No-Vote Law Prompts Advice for Fla Voter Groups
Voter Protections Newsletter Volume 3 Issue 3
September 22, 2008
FLORIDA -- Advancement Project recently urged groups doing voter registration in Florida to undertake certain measures to ensure that Florida’s no-match-no-vote law does not prevent voter applicants from becoming registered to vote.
Advancement Project launched this effort because Florida officials are now enforcing an onerous no-match-no-vote law, which requires voter applicants to place their driver’s license number, Florida ID number, or the last four digits of their social security number on their application forms when attempting to register.
First enacted in 2005, this law has been the subject of a lawsuit since September 2007. Fla. State Conference, NAACP v. Browning, No. 07-402 (N.D. Fla. 2007).
Plaintiffs in the lawsuit, the Florida State Conference of the NAACP, the Haitian-American Grassroots Coalition, the Southwest Voter Registration and Education Project, were represented by Advancement Project; the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law; Project Vote; Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP; and Greenberg Traurig LLP.
In September 2008, Secretary Kurt Browning announced his intention to enforce the no-match-no-vote law—one month before the voter registration deadline. Under the law, once applications are submitted, the state attempts to match the information on the applications against information in a state or federal database. If a “no match” occurs, the voter may be kept off the voter rolls, even if a clerical error is the source of the problem. To reduce the likelihood of this happening, there are steps that registration groups can take when registering voters.
Last week, in response to Browning’s announcement, Advancement Project urged voter-registration groups to ask voter applicants to write their driver’s license number or Florida ID numbers on their applications, instead of including the last four digits of their social security numbers. Advancement Project has found that the risk of not matching is much higher when applicants submit the last four digits of their social security numbers on their applications.
Voter-registration groups were also urged to train their canvassers to compare the information on a voter’s application with what is printed on his/her driver’s license or Florida ID number, to make sure the voter accurately recorded the ID number.
Unmatched Florida voter applicants must submit evidence of their ID or social security number to the supervisor of elections before Election Day. Otherwise, they will be forced to vote by a provisional ballot that will only be counted if the voter produces evidence--via fax, mail, email, or in person--of the exact ID number they used on their application by 5 p.m., Nov. 6.
Registration groups should advise voter applicants to be on alert for notices from their supervisor of elections. If applicants haven’t received written confirmation that they are registered, they should call their elections offices frequently to inquire about the status of their applications.
