Elderly may need license, state ID to vote
TALLAHASSEE (AP) – Elderly Floridians may need a driver’s license, passport or state identification card to vote under a sweeping elections bill that won approval from a Senate committee Thursday but drew opposition from voting rights groups.
Republican lawmakers who supported the bill (SB 956) said it’s needed to crack down on fraud and make other needed changes in the voting system.
Seniors would be affected by a provision that would no longer recognize retirement center or neighborhood association photo IDs at the polls. The bill also would change how registration drives are conducted and how much money political parties can spend on campaigns.
It would block anyone from coming within 100 feet of voters lined outside of polling places and would let legislative leaders create “leadership funds” that could accept donations from lobbyists.
The legislation would require anyone who moves less than 29 days before Election Day to vote with a provisional ballot, which has to meet stricter rules in order to count.
“Every single vote that is an illegal vote, a fraudulent vote, disenfranchises every vote that is a legal, valid vote,” said the sponsor, Senate Majority Leader Alex Diaz de la Portilla, R-Miami. “Why for the life of me I don’t understand why people would be opposed to stopping fraud.”
But Democrats, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, American Civil Liberties Union and other groups argued the measure would make it harder for senior citizens to vote.
The League of Women Voters also said that the legislation would hamper registration drives because it requires voter forms to be turned in within 48 hours. Other groups said the bill would make it impossible for citizen groups to get petition drives on the ballot.
“This bill … is an attack against the constitution,” said Dale Landry, president of the Tallahassee NAACP branch.