Florida's Registration Rules Blocked
A U.S. District Court in Florida has issued a preliminary injunction against new state rules governing groups engaged in voter registration efforts. The order in League of Women Voters of Florida v. Cobb may be found here and the press release from the Brennan Center, which is counsel in the case, is available here.

Florida's law would have imposed monetary fines on groups, other than political parties, which collect registration forms but fail timely to submit them. The opinion from U.S. District Judge Judge Patricia A. Seitz concludes that the law unconstitutionally discriminates in favor of political parties, and against nonpartisan groups like the League and labor unions which brought the case. The court finds that the heavy fines imposed by the law would chill their speech and association rights, in violation of the First Amendment.

The court finds especially problematic the "strict liability" features of the law, which would subject nonpartisan groups to fines of $250 to $5000 for each form not submitted as required. The prospect of such fines, it concludes, would create a strong disincentive for individuals and groups to collect registration forms since an unintended mistake -- like misplacing a stack of forms or even having them destroyed in a fire -- could have catastrophic effects. In fact, the League stopped its registration activites earlier this year due to the law's passage. Given that its annual budget is just $80,000, just a handful of mistakes could put it out of business.

As I've previously noted, voter registration could be the most active front in election reform activity this year. That's true not only because of the Help America Vote Act's new requirement of statewide registration lists, but also because of the more stringent registration rules that Florida and some other states have imposed. The Brennan Center previously won a ruling against the State of Washington's registration practices, as discussed here. Today's ruling could have significant implications for states like Ohio, where the Brennan Center has also brought a lawsuit. The regulation of registration promises to be an issue to watch for the remainder of this election season. - posted by Dan Tokaji @ 11:54 PM