Dems blast Scott for pressuring Monroe supervisor
By Brandon Larrabee
The News Service Of Florida
THE CAPITAL, TALLAHASSEE, FL — Democrats accused Gov. Rick Scott of bullying the supervisor of elections in Monroe County on Wednesday, the latest salvo in the high-stakes battle over early voting in the November elections.
With Florida’s 29 electoral votes expected to play a key role in deciding the contest between President Barack Obama, a Democrat, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a Republican, a decision by three federal judges to block a controversial early-voting law in five Florida counties has sparked a heated debate over how to respond.
The three-judge panel struck down the law during the “pre-clearance” process. Because of a history of language and racial discrimination, the Voting Rights Act requires five Florida counties — Collier, Hardee, Hendry, Hillsborough and Monroe — to get approval from either the U.S. Department of Justice or a federal court in Washington, D.C. for major elections process changes.
State officials expect in November to use the new law — approved by the Legislature last year – in the other 62 counties, as they did in this month’s primary. The change reduced the number of early voting days in those 62 counties from a maxi-mum of 14 to eight. They also want the supervisors in the other five counties to submit a plan calling for 12 hours of early voting a day over those eight days, something the judges suggested could make the law acceptable there.
But Harry Sawyer, a Republican elections supervisor in Monroe County, which includes the Florida Keys, has refused, prompting Scott to suggest on Tuesday that he might suspend Sawyer. Former Democratic state Sen. Dan Gelber blasted that statement in a conference call Wednesday, saying Sawyer was simply following the D.C. court’s decision.
“At this point, the only person doing precisely what he’s sup-posed to do is the Monroe County supervisor of elections,” Gelber said.
Sen. Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa, also called on Scott to set aside the early-voting changes across Florida in re-sponse to the court ruling.
Joyner has filed a legal challenge with the Department of Administrative Hearings seeking to block an order by Detzner that the voting law changes take effect in the other 62 counties even before they were precleared. The judge in that case has delayed a decision, originally scheduled for Friday, in light of the federal ruling.
“[Scott] should accept that the new law is fatally flawed, and that all 67 counties in this state need to vote uniformly under the previous law that’s in effect in the five covered counties,” Joyner said.
Scott’s office says Sawyer isn’t doing his job by refusing to go along with the eight-day, 12-hour voting time frame in an effort to get it precleared. Late Tuesday, the governor’s office released identically worded emails from the supervisors of elections in the other four preclearance counties.
“If the early voting changes in Chapter 2011-40 receive preclearance, Collier County would offer early voting for 12 hours per day on each day of the early voting period, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day, for the November 2012 General Election,” read the one from Collier.
In an email with the supervisors’ statements attached, Scott spokesman Brian Burgess added that, “it’s our view that Monroe County has a duty to present a plan that would meet pre-clearance requirements.”
Meanwhile, Secretary of State Ken Detzner announced that some new rules regarding third-party voter registration groups had gained preclearance. But those rules don’t include one of the more controversial provisions, which required those groups to turn in all completed registration forms within 48 hours; that was blocked by a federal court in Tallahassee in May.
“By the time the court has finished ruling on last year’s elections law, I am confident all 80 provisions of the law will be approved and Florida will be even better prepared to conduct elections in a manner that serves its voters’ interests and needs,” Detzner said in a statement announcing the approval of the third-party rules.