December 4, 2007

PLAINTIFFS BEAT BACK THIRD-PARTY VOTER REGISTRATION RESTRICTIONS

In a significant development for voter registration groups, Florida Secretary of State Browning has agreed that he will not enforce the amended version of the third-party voter registration restrictions, scheduled to go into effect on January 1, 2008, during the pendency of a temporary agreement with the plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging the law.

On November 30, 2007, the parties to a lawsuit, League of Women Voters v. Browning, brought by Advancement Project, the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law and the law firm of Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP on behalf of several organizations that conduct voter registration, filed a stipulation with a federal court in Miami in which the Secretary of State agreed not to enforce the amended version of the third-party voter registration law, and plaintiffs agreed not to proceed with their case, unless otherwise ordered by the court. The parties also agreed that either side, with thirty days notice, can terminate the agreement.

The amended voter registration law, among other things, would continue to impose fines on third-party voter registration groups that did not meet certain deadlines for submitting voter registration applications. The fines would be reduced by three-fourths if the group complied with the state’s registration requirements and would be capped at $1000 per third-party registration group per calendar year. The amended law has not yet been approved by the Department of Justice under the Voting Rights Act—which is required before the law can go into effect.

In August of 2006, the court enjoined the original version of the Florida statute regulating third-party voter registration.

Click here to read the stipulation