Voter Group Sues Fla. Officials

By KEN THOMAS Associated Press Writer

August 15, 2001

MIAMI -- A Florida voter rights group sued state officials Wednesday, warning that parts of an election reform law could return the state to its "Jim Crow" past.

The plaintiffs object to a list of voter responsibilities that will be posted at polling places along with a list of voter rights. They said the signs amount to literacy tests and would discourage minority voters.

Signs will direct voters, among other things, to "study and know candidates and issues," "bring proper identification to the polling station" and check their completed ballots for accuracy.

"We believe that the voter responsibilities section of that act is a step so far backward as to be a literacy test," said JoNel Newman, a lawyer with the Florida Equal Voting Rights Project, a project of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida.

Lawmakers overhauled the state's election laws last spring in the wake of the disputed presidential election. Florida's voting system endured intense scrutiny after a razor-thin election forced a recount and gave George W. Bush the presidency.

Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris and Monroe County Elections Supervisor Harry Sawyer Jr. are named as defendants in the lawsuit. Neither immediately responded to calls seeking comment.

The group, called the Florida Voters League, Inc., filed the suit on behalf of Charles Major Jr., a black voting-rights activist from Key West.

The lawsuit also targets new procedures for removing ex-felons from voter rolls, saying the burden of determining which voters are ex-felons falls to county officials, who would force voters to prove their eligibility.

Copyright © 2001, The Associated Press

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2001

Answers

A literacy test? Literacy? If any person is unable to understand that they should know who they are voting for, bring ID to prove who they are and check their ballots for accuracy, they aren't compos mentis enough to be out without a minder.

Sometimes I really and truly despair for the future of this country.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2001

You know, actually those three items, know the candidates, bring ID, and check for accuracy of balot, are not new. They were there before.

the new thing is the signs. If someone can't read the signs, they need but ask one of the idiots standing around to read it to them.

This is nothing new.

As to the felons, well, it is up to each individual to make sure they are eligible. If a felon wants to be eligible, he/she needs to take whatever steps are necessary. This has not changed either.

As far as I can see, the only change is the signs. They have always posted the rights of the voters, they just want to add those three logical responsibilities to the sign.

I suspect that the lawsuit will be thrown out, unless a judge wants to add to the sign a message: "If you can't read this, ask for help."

ROTFLMAO

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2001

I'm still puzzling about the occasional suggestion that ballots be available in different languages. How do you spell G-O-R-E in Italian?

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2001