Elections Bill Clears Senate, Heads Back to House

A bill preventing address changes at polling places on the day of an election, reducing the shelf-life for citizen-driven petitions for constitutional amendments from four years to two years, requiring third party voter registration groups to submit applications they gather within 48 hours, setting up a committee to determine the date of the 2012 presidential preference primary and reducing the amount of days for early voting has passed the Florida Senate. It will now head back to the House, which passed a different version last month.

It passed 25-13 on a largely party-line vote, with just two Republicans, Sen. Mike Fasano of New Port Richey and Sen. Paula Dockery of Lakeland, voting against it. Democrats have decried the bill as a purely partisan measure designed to disenfranchise voters who lean to the left. College students who move out of town won't be able to vote, because the bill does not allow people who move outside of their county to change their address at the voting booth, and voter registration groups who sign up left-minded voters will incur penalties for sending in false or inaccurate information on voter registration applications.

"Under the guise of ensuring the integrity of the election process we have another bill that puts up barriers to the election process in this state," said Senate Minority Leader Nan Rich, D-Weston.

Sen. Mike Bennett, R-Bradenton, said properly registering and heading to the polls at the right time are not difficult hurdles to climb in order to vote.

"How much more convenient do you want to make it? Do you want to bring the polling booth into people's homes?" he said. "Iwant them to at least know the date when they're supposed to go vote. I want them to know where they're supposed to vote. This is not about disenfranchising voters, this is about making sure your vote counts."