Controversial Florida election law change moves forward

Criticism of late rewrite that tweaks registration rules hits bill's sponsor.

Posted: April 15, 2011 - 12:00am

By Matt Dixon

Legislation that would overhaul state election law received a committee nod only 16 hours after the sponsor filed a 151-page amendment changing several aspects of the bill, a move that earned him vocal rebukes Thursday.

The measure, among other things, would no longer allow voters to change their address on Election Day, require that groups that hold voter registration drives get the information of newly registered voters to elections officials within 48 hours, and require that those groups give personal information to the state before registering new voters.

Supporters said the bill, which passed on a party-line 12-6 vote, would better ensure the accuracy of voter rolls, while several opponents called it disenfranchising.

"I'm going to call this bill for what it is, good old-fashioned voter suppression," said Ben Wilcox of the League of Women voters.

Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, the bill's sponsor, says allowing people to change address on Election Day can lead to fraud because it is tough to verify that they did not already vote in another county.

"Don't we care about the integrity of the vote?" he asked.