Florida: Senate approves bill to create an online voter registration | Tampa Bay Times

The Florida Senate on Monday overwhelmingly passed a bill that requires the state to create an online voter registration application by 2017. The 34 to 3 vote sends the bill to the House, where passage is also expected, despite strong opposition from Gov. Rick Scott’s chief elections official, Secretary of State Ken Detzner. To underscore bipartisan support for online voter registration, the Senate’s Republican leadership left a Democratic senator as the bill’s sponsor. The bill (SB 228) is sponsored by Sen. Jeff Clemens, D-Lake Worth. Three Republican senators voted no.

Florida: Feds charge ex-congressional chief of staff with secretly funding 2010 ringer candidate | Miami Herald

Federal prosecutors on Friday accused former Miami Democratic Rep. Joe Garcia’s ex-chief of staff of secretly financing a ringer tea-party candidate in 2010 to draw votes away from a Republican rival — an illegal scheme that appeared to inspire a more serious copycat case two years later. Jeffrey Garcia was charged with conspiracy to give a campaign contribution of less than $25,000, a misdemeanor offense. Prosecutors say Garcia, no relation to the former congressman, put up the $10,440 qualifying fee for the shadow candidate, Jose Rolando “Roly” Arrojo, to pose as another challenger to David Rivera. Arrojo was also charged Friday with the same misdemeanor.

Florida: Ridiculous, unnecessary special election in HD 64 wraps up today | SaintPetersBlog

It’s too soon to say whether or not Jamie Grant will be re-elected to his House District 64 seat. But not really. He will be elected and everyone knows this. Grant, who was first elected in 2010, is literally the only name on the ballot for the special election being held Tuesday. Voters will head to the polls in parts of both Hillsborough and Pinellas to cast their ballots in Grant’s shoo-in bid. Early voting in the election wrapped up over the weekend.

Florida: Online voter registration steaming ahead despite top elections official opposing it | KeysNet

Florida should join the parade of 20 states allowing online voter registration, says the Monroe County Supervisor of Elections. “I think it’s a good thing,” Supervisor Joyce Griffin said Tuesday. “It would save paper, save money and save aggravation. It’s the next logical step.” The Florida Legislature seems to agree as House and Senate bills creating an online registration application by October 2017 are moving forward in the waning weeks of the spring session. A Tuesday vote on the House bill was delayed over questions about a $1.8 million cost for the new system. The primary opposition to the bill comes from the administration of Gov. Rick Scott. Scott’s appointed elections chief, Secretary of State Ken Detzner, warned of a “train wreck” and possible computer fraud by “forces of evil” in testimony to a Florida Senate committee April 15.

Florida: Subpoenas issued in challenge of state Senate districts | The Tampa Tribune

More than 60 people, including sitting lawmakers, have received subpoenas as part of a long stalled lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Florida’s state Senate maps. The lawsuit was originally filed in 2012, but has sat dormant as a separate lawsuit challenging the state’s congressional lines worked its way through the courts. That lawsuit resulted in lawmakers having to redraw the state’s 27 congressional districts and an appeal is still pending before the Florida Supreme Court. The lawsuit challenging state Senate lines is being spearheaded by the League of Women Voters of Florida and Common Cause, which were both involved in the Congressional lawsuit. The group will also be represented by David King, the same attorney involved in the congressional lawsuit.

Florida: Online Voter Registration Gets OK; Detzner Objects | CBS Miami

Despite opposition from the governor’s top elections official, legislation that would allow Floridians to register to vote online was sent to the Senate floor Thursday. Meanwhile, the House delayed a floor vote on a similar measure because of a question about $1.8 million that would be needed to fund creation of the new high-tech application. The Senate Appropriations Committee, in a 10-4 vote, backed a measure (SB 228) that would require the state Division of Elections to develop an online voter-registration application by Oct. 1, 2017, a year later than proposed earlier. “I admit I have some concerns about this bill, and they’re not concerns about the bill itself,” said Sen. Jeff Clemens, a Lake Worth Democrat who is sponsoring the bill. “It’s about whether or not the agency is actually going to do what we tell them to do, or find excuses to not do it again. And that’s concerns me.”

Florida: Senators approve online voter bill, despite Detzner’s opposition | Tallahassee Democrat

Senators approved an online voter registration provision Thursday — even though the state official tasked with implementing the system pleaded with them not to. For 45 minutes, Senate Appropriations Committee members grilled Secretary of State Ken Detzner on why he opposed Sen. Jeff Clemens’ SB 228, which is supported by the state’s supervisors of elections. The bill requires the Division of Elections within Detzner’s agency to implement a statewide voter registration system by Oct. 1, 2017. The system would allow prospective voters to enter their driver’s license of Florida ID number online, which would be checked against Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles records before being sent to a local supervisor of elections.

Florida: House OKs Online Voter Registration Legislation: Top State Election Official Objects | The Ledger

Despite opposition from the governor’s top elections official, legislation that would allow Floridians to register to vote online was sent to the Senate floor Thursday. Meanwhile, the House delayed a floor vote on a similar measure because of a question about $1.8 million that would be needed to fund creation of the new high-tech application. The Senate Appropriations Committee, in a 10-4 vote, backed a measure (SB 228) that would require the state Division of Elections to develop an online voter-registration application by Oct. 1, 2017, a year later than proposed earlier.

Florida: Lawmakers denounce Florida elections chief a second time | Miami Herald

Gov. Rick Scott’s elections chief faced open hostility from Senate Republicans for a second time Thursday for opposing a bipartisan bill to allow online voter registration by 2017. Testifying before the Senate Appropriations Committee, Secretary of State Ken Detzner said that he doesn’t have a plan to implement the change and is worried about having to coordinate with 67 counties while his agency and the state highway safety department upgrade their databases — which are the backbone of the system used to verify voters’ identities. To placate Detzner, lawmakers pushed back the start of the online registration system to October 2017. But he’s still fighting a way to offer a new option to make it easier to register to vote that’s favored by every election supervisor, most legislators and the League of Women Voters.

Florida: Online Voter Registration Bill Goes Before Florida House | WUWF

The Florida House is expected to take up a voter registration bill, which has the blessing of Florida’s 67 County Supervisors of Elections. Online registration is already in 20 states, with another four getting ready to implement it. Under the bill, HB 7143, the state Division of Elections would be required to develop a secure website that could be used to register first-time voters and update existing voter registrations. A companion bill in the Senate is sponsored by Democrat Jeff Clemens from Lake Worth. “It works, and not only is it more secure, but it saves us money, and I think that’s a big thing when we’re talking about having to spend money on voting machines and trying to make our process better,” said Clemens.

Florida: Top elections official under fire on two fronts | Tampa Bay Times

Gov. Rick Scott’s chief elections official is in big trouble with two key groups: state legislators who write the voting laws and county supervisors who run elections. Secretary of State Ken Detzner can’t afford to alienate either constituency as Florida heads toward a presidential election in 2016, when the eyes of the nation will again be on the biggest battleground state. Lawmakers blasted Detzner Wednesday for fighting their plan to let people register to vote online by October 2017. Elections officials, meanwhile, were livid to learn that Detzner released private data on more than 45,000 voters — including judges and police officers — and didn’t alert them immediately.

Florida: Lawmakers blast Gov. Rick Scott’s top elections official | The Miami Herald

Gov. Rick Scott’s top elections official came under intense criticism Wednesday for fighting the Legislature’s plan to allow people in Florida to register to vote online by 2017. Secretary of State Ken Detzner, a Scott appointee, appeared before House and Senate committees to oppose the idea, calling online registration a “flashing yellow light” fraught with security risks. Twenty other states have already implemented online voter registration, four more are doing so and the idea has unanimous support from Florida’s 67 county election supervisors, who say it will save money and increase the pool of potential voters.

Florida: Fight Over Online Voter Registration in Florida | WCTV

Plans for online voter registration are moving through the Florida legislature. Thursday, a Senate committee approved legislation that would implement the system. Leon County Supervisor of Elections Ion Sancho says it’s seen as the last great hurdle to overcome in the area of voter registration. “We’re just talking about making the process convenient to citizens using technology that they’re already using for almost every other kind of application that’s being done,” said Sancho. But some election supervisors across the state say it appears the governor’s office is trying to kill the bill.

Florida: Gov. Scott’s criticism of online voter registration angers counties | Tampa Bay Times

Gov. Rick Scott’s administration is quietly trying to scuttle legislation that would allow people to register to vote online in Florida, a stance that county election supervisors call “perplexing,” “inaccurate” and “erroneous.” No one from Scott’s administration has publicly opposed the idea. The administration’s behind-the-scenes opposition has opened a new rift between Scott’s office and county supervisors and stirred new speculation that the Republican governor may not want to expand the pool of voters as he explores a possible U.S. Senate bid in 2018. Florida would become the 25th state with an online voter registration program under a bill (SB 228) sponsored by Sen. Jeff Clemens, D-Lake Worth. The idea has broad bipartisan support as well as the backing of AARP, League of Women Voters and Disability Rights of Florida, and it unanimously passed a Senate committee Thursday.

Florida: Plan to replace Florida’s “obsolete” voter registration system set for July | Herald Tribune

Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner verified to the State Senate on Monday that his office is working to “refresh” the state’s glitch-prone voter registration system by July, averting potential problems that could have threatened the 2016 presidential election cycle. Detzner said his office has already ordered the new computer hardware and expects it to be delivered next month. He said his office is on course to have the new voter system up and operating by July. Two weeks ago the Herald-Tribune reported that statewide county supervisors of elections have become increasingly vocal about their concerns over the current Florida Voter Registration System, which has been prone to crashing – sometimes for days at a time. The voting system is a statewide database that is used to check in voters to ensure their eligibility to cast a ballot.

Florida: Senate Committee Approves Online Voter Registration | CBS Miami

The Senate Ethics and Elections Committee approved legislation Tuesday that would allow Florida voters to register online–but only after the looming 2016 presidential election. The bill (SB 228) would allow Floridians with driver’s licenses or state-issued identification cards to submit applications online, using signatures on file with the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, as long as the voter’s name and date of birth matched the agency’s records. Otherwise, the system would fill out a form that could be printed and taken to the office of the local supervisor of elections.

Florida: Tech glitches could mar 2016 election | Herald Tribune

“Habitual” technology failures in an “obsolete” and glitch-prone state voter registration system could have devastating effects in 2016 if not addressed quickly, elections officials across the state say. The aging state computer system is used to check in voters locally, ensuring their eligibility, before they cast ballots. But local elections supervisors say the state system is prone to crash, sometimes for days, precluding efforts to verify that eligibility. They also say the state has been slow to upgrade the hardware, despite millions in federal funding. Florida’s top elections official, Ken Detzner, was not available for comment on Friday. But his spokesman said fixing the system will be his “highest priority.” In a memo to local elections officials this week, the state said it was moving to address the problem this month.

Florida: State attorney investigation into absentee ballots | WPTV

The Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office says they are investigating absentee ballots sent to people in Loxahatchee Groves who say they didn’t request them. “When they showed up I didn’t really think much of it. A computer glitch. Government being silly. Something along those lines,” resident Bill Ford said. But on Saturday after receiving the absentee ballots, Ford says candidate Ryan Liang’s mother and another person showed up to his home. “They told me basically they had requested absentee ballots on behalf of people because they wanted to make sure everyone got an opportunity to vote,” Ford said.

Florida: Jefferson County sued over redistricting plan | Tallahassee Democrat

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit Monday against the Jefferson County Commission, the county’s school board and supervisor of elections challenging the inclusion of state prison inmates in the drawing of election district maps. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Tallahassee by the ACLU on behalf of concerned county residents, says the redistricting plan adopted by the commission and school board in 2013 violates the constitution’s “one person, one vote” requirement and amounts to “prison-based gerrymandering.”

Florida: Online voter registration gains momentum in Florida | Miami Herald

Florida would become the 25th state to allow people to register to vote online under one of a series of voting proposals awaiting consideration by the Legislature. It’s an idea Democrats have pushed for years without success. Now Republicans are also supporting it — but only after the 2016 presidential election. Twenty states now allow online registration, including Georgia, South Carolina and Louisiana. Four more have passed laws to implement it, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Florida: Court hears one more challenge to congressional district maps | Miami Herald

Florida’s congressional redistricting maps should be rejected because they are the product of a shadowy process infiltrated by Republican political operatives in violation of the law against partisan gerrymandering, lawyers argued before the Florida Supreme Court on Wednesday. The plaintiffs in the case, a coalition of voters and the League of Women Voters, want the court to adopt an alternative map because, they said, Leon County Circuit Court Judge Terry Lewis erred when he ruled that the entire map had been infiltrated by operatives but then asked lawmaker to redraw only two of the districts. The court concluded that the political operatives “tainted the map with improper partisan intent,” said David King, lawyer for the League of Women Voters, who initially commended Lewis for his ruling. King said that constituted an “intentional violation by the Legislature” and invalidated the map.

Florida: State Supreme Court asked to redraw congressional districts | Jacksonville Business Journal

The Florida Supreme Court should order a third draft of the state’s congressional districts to fully eliminate illegal gerrymandering, attorneys for groups that have challenged the map argued Wednesday. But lawyers for the Legislature said Leon County Circuit Judge Terry Lewis acted appropriately last year when he upheld lawmakers’ second version of the map, drawn after Lewis found that political consultants managed to “taint the redistricting process and the resulting map with improper partisan intent” the first time around. The arguments Wednesday were the latest chapter of a long-running battle between voting-rights organizations like the League of Women Voters and lawmakers about whether congressional and state Senate maps violate the anti-gerrymandering Fair Districts amendments, approved by voters in 2010.

Florida: Rick Scott cuts state losses in long voting fight | Tampa Bay Times

Gov. Rick Scott doesn’t like to lose. But he lost an important court case dealing with voting rights and last week he decided to cut his losses, along with those of Florida taxpayers who have footed the bill for more than 2 ½ years. Scott dropped his appeal of a federal court order that said the state’s efforts to purge the voter rolls of suspected noncitizens during the 2012 presidential campaign violated a federal law that prohibits “systematic” removals less than 90 days before a federal election. And he issued a statement that signaled a new willingness to work with county elections supervisors, who opposed the purge. “Florida is in an excellent position to conduct fair elections,” Scott’s statement said. “I am confident that the 2016 presidential election cycle will put Florida’s election system in a positive light thanks to the improvements made by our supervisors of elections, the Legislature and the Department of State.” As a result, Scott is facing criticism from the right.

Florida: Scary storage for Brevard County voting gear | Voting Today

Brevard avoided national embarrassment the past few election cycles because you, the taxpayers, have spent more than $3 million on state-of-the-art voting equipment. So where does the county keep all our cutting-edge, computerized gear — upon which democracy itself depends? It is jammed wall-to-wall in what amounts to a really big, old metal shed in west Cocoa. The Election Support Center warehouse, which also stores meticulously arranged ballots, has no smoke alarms or fire-prevention system such as sprinklers. It has no security system. It has holes in its truck-bay door and holes in walls covered by duct tape. The floors are clean, the gear precisely arranged. But insulation dangles from collapsed portions of ceiling over voting machines. Streaks of black gunk line a wall above racks of ballot bags. “It’s mold,” Elections Supervisor Lori Scott says (although it might only be mildew.)

Florida: Registering to vote online: Will Florida join in? | The Gainesville Sun

Online voter registration is happening. Twenty states currently have it. Another four have passed authorizing legislation. And the Florida Legislature is considering it this session. “When done right, people have trust in the system. It’s successful,” said Adam Ambrogi, a program director at the Democracy Fund, one of the co-sponsors of the University of Florida’s election forum at the Florida State Conference Center in Tallahassee on Friday. Many among those at the forum were county election supervisors from around the state who wanted to learn more about how effective and safe online registration is, like Mark Andersen of Bay County.

Florida: Students set to gather to address online voter registration | USA Today

Over 100 of the best public policy students from around the state of Florida will be gathering at the end of February to discuss and plan for the modernization of the state’s voter registration system. The Florida Future of Political Action Summit will take place Feb. 20-22 and is the second of its kind. Held at the Bob Graham Center for Public Service at the University of Florida, participants will study Florida’s electronic voting registration methods, as well as how other states have modernized registration. Katie Burnett, University of Florida senior and member of the event steering committee, says they will also be equipped with the tools to organize volunteer-run committees for their own public service efforts.

Florida: Rep. Alan Williams pushes online registration | Tallahassee.com

A Tallahassee legislator wants to bring voting registration into the Internet age. And he has the backing of the supervisors of election whose offices must deal with all the paper generated by the electorate. Florida would be the 21st state to implement an online voter registration system should lawmakers approve Rep. Alan Williams’ HB 227 this legislative session, according to the Pew Center. Williams, D-Tallahassee, hopes the system would be ready by the 2016 election. It will save money and get more people involved in the electoral process, he said. Sen. Jeff Clemens, D-Lake Worth, has filed a companion bill (SB 228) in the Senate. “The byproduct of it is more people engaged in the electoral process,” Williams said. “We cannot continue to embrace a typewriter mentality in an iPad world.” Currently, a prospective voter can download a voter registration form online but still must mail it to a local supervisor of elections office, which must scan the document and mail it to the state to be approved, said Ion Sancho, Leon County supervisor of elections. The state then notifies local offices if the person is approved.

Florida: North Miami Beach leaders discuss steps to prevent voter fraud in elections | The Miami Herald

North Miami Beach officials want to avoid drama, confusion and voter-fraud issues that have plagued campaign seasons of the past. The last two municipal elections were tainted with soap-opera-style incidents that included accusations of death threats, campaign misdeeds and complaints about an incumbent mayor unfairly targeting opponents with code violations. “We don’t want to have the circus we had two years ago to happen again,” said council member Anthony DeFellipo at Tuesday’s council meeting. With four of the seven council seats up for grabs in the May 5 municipal elections, the council discussed efforts to fend off any confusion that could result in voter fraud or any unfavorable image of their city.

Florida: Redistricted maps product of Democratic meddling, Legislature tells Court | SaintPetersBlog

Attorneys for the Florida Legislature are calling on the Florida Supreme Court to reject proposed redistricting maps submitted by voting-rights groups. Their argument: the maps are a product of influence by Democratic “partisan operatives and political consultants.” In a court filing on Monday, lawyers representing the House and Senate are asking to discard the maps weeks before the court hears arguments on the constitutionality of redistricting approved by the Republican-controlled Legislature. The Florida League of Women Voters is among the groups that brought suit, saying the districts violate Florida’s Fair District anti-gerrymandering constitutional amendment voters put in place in 2010.

Florida: State among nation’s toughest places to have voting rights restored | Sun-Sentinel

Commit any felony in Florida and you lose your right to vote for life — unless the governor and the clemency board agree to give that right back to you. The result: more than 1.6 million Floridians — about 9 percent — cannot vote, hold office or serve on a jury, according to The Sentencing Project, a prison-reform group. In most states, the percentage is less than 2. Only two other states have that tough a policy. Getting back those rights has become far tougher in the past four years. Under Gov. Rick Scott, 1,534 nonviolent felons had their rights restored. More than 11,000 others applied but are still waiting for an answer. Under former Gov. Charlie Crist, the clemency board automatically restored the rights of nonviolent offenders who served their time — and a total of 155,315 got them back during his four-year term.