A federal judge has said “no” to Florida Democrats’ legal attempt to speed up voter verification so newly-registered Floridians can cast their ballots in early voting.
On Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge Mark Walker said there was no evidence Secretary of State Ken Detzner isn’t doing all in his power to make sure all pending voter registration applications are processed as quickly as possible.
Earlier this month, Democrats filed a lawsuit to extend voter registration due to Hurricane Matthew. A Tallahassee federal court judge agreed with the FDP and extended the voter registration deadline by a week, which resulted in nearly 64,000 new registrations statewide.
Many of those voter registrations are expected to be Democratic-leaning minority and low-income voters.
Democrats have said they are worried about voters being disenfranchised if the Florida Department of State doesn’t move quickly.
Part of the FDP’s lawsuit would make the court to suspend requirements for election officials to certify a voter’s information before voting. In order to be considered a voter in Florida, election officials have to verify an individual’s identity, but a move to suspend these requirements would allow unverified voters to cast their ballots as long as they had some form of identification to show at the polls.
The Florida Senate raised concerns over possible voter fraud if such a suspension were to come into play.
“Merely requiring on-site identification, without any verification, would pose a great risk of voter fraud, which in turn would dilute the legitimate votes of Florida citizens and distort the electoral process,” wrote Senate attorneys in a motion to intervene.
State Dems want voter forms to be verified by Sunday so voters can head to the polls Monday when early voting begins in many of Florida’s largest counties.
Secretary of State Ken Detzner told the court he could have the forms of the new registrations verified before the end of the month on Oct. 29, which is the last day for in-person early voting.
Walker disagreed with the FDP, saying Secretary Detzner "is making a herculean effort to make sure there are hours and staffing to assure everyone has a chance to cast vote in this year's election."
In an email sent Thursday, the Department of State said it would be increasing staffing to ensure all eligible Floridians who submitted a voter registration application will be registered and verified to vote by Oct. 29.
Floridians who submitted their applications before the registration deadline will have their identities verified, cross-checking IDs with the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles and the Social Security Administration.
Newly-registered voters whose forms haven’t yet been verified would cast provisional ballots at the polls. Provisional ballots are set aside from the regular count and then verified by a canvassing board. These ballots can take a while to verify -- up to two days before the election. Provisional ballots also have higher rejection rates, which is likely part of the reason Democrats aren’t big fans of them.
The Republican Party of Florida, which joined in the suit Thursday, praised Judge Walker’s decision.
“Today, the Florida Democrat Party got caught with their hands in the cookie jar,” said RPOF chair Blaise Ingoglia. “Not only did they try to use the courts to circumvent Florida voting laws, they put at risk the integrity of the election process and the autonomy of local canvassing boards.”
Reach reporter Allison Nielsen by email at allison@sunshinestatenews.com or follow her on Twitter: @AllisonNielsen.
