GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA — Florida’s election laws are some of the strictest in the nation. But in a blatant attempt to overturn established election laws, Vote.org, the Florida Alliance for Retired Americans, and the Florida State Conference of the NAACP sued Florida’s Secretary of State Cord Byrd last month over signature requirements.
ORIGINAL SIGNATURES REQUIRED
Under Florida law, people without active driver’s licenses must sign their voter registration form with a pen. The law, strictly enforced by Florida’s 67 county supervisors of elections, prevents voters from registering through Vote.org’s mobile tool, which uses digital signatures to submit applications via mobile devices.
The groups claim the “requirement serves no purpose other than to impede some Floridians’ right to vote.” The suit contends that requiring original signatures creates a hardship for “people of color, older residents and those with lower incomes” who might not readily have access to a printer.
PROTECTING ELECTION SAFEGUARDS
Now, the Republican National Committee (RNC) is joining the Republican Party of Pasco County to intervene as defendants in the federal suit challenging Florida’s election laws. Republicans say the Democrats’ argument that requiring an original signature violates the federal Civil Rights Act is absurd and could later be used against other common-sense ballot integrity measures across the country.
“The Republican National Committee and Republican Party of Pasco County are intervening in this lawsuit because election laws exist to be followed, not circumvented by shadowy Democrat groups,” RNC Spokesman Gates McGavick tells The Florida Standard.
“No one actually believes the Democrat argument that asking a voter to sign a voter registration application is somehow unfair or unlawful,” McGavick added. “Republicans remain committed to protecting basic election safeguards from underhanded Democrat schemes in Florida and nationwide.”
The RNC is assisting in a nearly identical lawsuit in Georgia and recently joined two lawsuits in Pennsylvania related to whether votes inside an undated ballot envelope should be counted. The RNC said they were a part of more than 100 cases nationally during the 2022 midterm cycle fighting for election integrity.
