A proposed overhaul of the Voting Rights Act that would essentially revive the process of “preclearance” would leave Florida out of the list of states that would have to get federal approval for changes to elections procedures, a scenario that concerns some voting-rights advocates. Voting-rights groups, many of which have been involved in recent legal battles over elections issues in Florida, largely support the bill, introduced by a bipartisan group of U.S. House and Senate members. But they note that the process in the bill for selecting which states are required to gain preclearance would not include Florida or several other jurisdictions that were included under an old formula. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down as antiquated the formula Congress established in the 2006 version of the law to single out so-called “covered jurisdictions.” That formula, based on data from the 1960s and 1970s, was used to decide which parts of the country must submit almost any changes in voting laws or practices to the federal government for approval — the process known as preclearance.
Before the ruling, five Florida counties were among the “covered jurisdictions,” which in effect required the state to submit any rules or new laws affecting those areas. That allowed the U.S. Department of Justice or a three-judge federal panel to review essentially any statewide voting law as well.
Florida officials, who had challenged the preclearance section of the Voting Rights Act in a separate case, applauded the decision.
“Any time we have the opportunity to make our own decisions, I think that’s great for our state,” Gov. Rick Scott said at the time.
Under the new proposal, any state where governments were found to have violated the Voting Rights Act five times in a 15-year period would be subject to preclearance. While at least one of the violations would have to be committed by the state itself, others could be committed by local governments.
Full Article: Voting Rights Changes Would Not Impact Florida : NorthEscambia.com.