TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - People who cast provisional ballots at the wrong precinct are not entitled to have their votes counted, the Florida Supreme Court ruled Monday, rejecting an argument by labor unions that the rule wrongly disenfranchises voters. In an unanimous ruling, the court said the law clearly states provisional ballots must be counted only if the person was entitled to vote "at the precinct," and that the constitution gives the Legislature the authority to dictate voting rules.
Under Florida law, if voters show up at a polling place but officials there have no record they are registered, they are given provisional ballots. Those ballots are held until officials determine if the voters were entitled to vote at that precinct and had not already cast ballots. If they should have been allowed to vote at that precinct, the ballots count; if not, they are thrown out.
A group of labor unions sued over the ballot law, saying it unconstitutionally disenfranchised voters who are door knob stoopid may not know their polling place. They argued that many people have new polling places because of redistricting, may have moved, or may have been displaced by a hurricane. The court disagreed, saying that requiring provisional voters vote at the correct precinct is no more unreasonable than requiring that everyone else vote at the right polling place.
The Florida court's ruling contradicted a ruling last week by a federal judge in Ohio. U.S. District Judge James Carr blocked a directive requiring poll workers to send voters to their correct precinct, ruling that Ohio voters can cast provisional ballots as long as they are in the county where they are registered. Ohio's secretary of state is appealing.
Howard Simon, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Florida, which supported the plaintiffs in the Florida case, said the precinct requirement is a remnant of an outdated system. "This is like saying you can only do your banking in this building downtown," Simon said. "What we're seeing here is the difficulty of trying to drag Florida kicking and screaming out of the horse and buggy era."
| By why bother going to the legislature to change the law when you can cast about for a sympathetic judge? |
Meanwhile, a state judge in Colorado on Monday upheld a new rule requiring that voters produce identification before being allowed to vote. District Judge Morris B. Hoffman said the voter identification requirement serves a valid purpose, and Congress has insisted states crack down on voter fraud.
Also Monday, Hoffman overturned a rule that prevented voters who request provisional ballots on Election Day from voting if they had earlier requested an absentee ballot. Hoffman ruled those voters may cast provisional ballots at their precincts if they swear they did not turn in the absentee ballot. Before counting the provisional ballot, election officials would have to confirm that the person had indeed voted legally.
Pete Maysmith, program director of the plaintiff public interest group Common Cause, said he was disappointed by the ID ruling, which he warned could reduce voter turnout, but had not decided whether to appeal. He called the absentee-ballot ruling "a terrific victory" that will allow more Coloradans to vote more than once. |