The Florida State Capitol building. | Source: Mark Wallheiser / Getty
Florida continues its attack on democracy with a newly passed anti-voting rights bill. Passed almost entirely along party lines, the bill awaits Gov. Ron DeSantis’ signature.
A response to record turnout last year, SB 90 is another bill created from the twin sins of lying about voter fraud and fear of multiracial coalitions. Black Democratic lawmakers have been particularly vocal in sounding the alarm about the dangers of SB 90 since its introduction.
In a literal mic drop, Rep. Tracie Davis called the passage of SB 90 an insult. “This is an insult to my caucus,” said Davis. “And this is an insult to the millions of voters that depend on us to make decisions, especially when it comes to election law. We can do better than this.”
Florida state Rep. Angie Nixon said her colleagues across the aisle were on the wrong side of history. “To maintain power and control, they erected barriers to make voting less accessible to Black, Brown, young and newly registered voters after previously touting Florida had one of the smoothest elections in its history,” Nixon told NewsOne.
Nixon sees the proposed law as a part of an anti-democracy effort targeting Black and other people of color.
“This [bill] along with the passage of HB 1, the anti-protest Bill, is a direct attempt to ensure people of color, particularly Black people, feel hopeless and give up on the idea that we will ever revive justice or live in an equitable country.”
Citing other controversial provisions and policy efforts, the Florida-based Dream Defenders listed the pending new voting law as a part of a larger GOP-led plan to undermine people’s rights across the country. After Florida voters passed Amendment 4, restoring voting rights to formerly incarcerated people, the Republican-controlled legislature limited who would be eligible.
Similar to a new election law in Georgia and more than 300 other bills introduced in statehouses across the country, Florida’s SB 90 takes aim at measures that make voting by mail easier. The bill also prohibits third-party organizations from providing funding for election administration. In 2020, county administrators across the country benefited from non-partisan grants in carrying out an election during a pandemic.
In a post explaining provisions in the bill, Campaign Legal Center found that “the bill stipulates that third-party voter registration groups must notify voters that they may not return their registration applications on time, despite the fact that they are required to do so by law.”
According to the post, such a provision is intended to create confusion and mistrust among voters. Campaign Legal Center is involved in one of the several lawsuits that have been filed challenging Georgia’s controversial SB 202.
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Georgia Voter Suppression Law 2.0: Florida Election Bill Expands Restrictions, And Then Some
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