A new law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis that limits third-party voter registration organizations was enjoined by a federal judge.
US District Judge Mark Walker issued a preliminary injunction against Senate Bill 7020 because he said prohibiting non-U.S. citizens from voter registration work that involves handling forms is unconstitutional.
“The State of Florida is correct to seek integrity in our electoral system,” Chief Judge Walker wrote in his July 3 order. “Sound election laws ensure the people are heard without distortion from negligent and bad-faith actors. Here, however, Florida’s solutions for preserving election integrity are too far removed from the problems it has put forward as justifications.”
Voting and immigrants’ rights advocates challenged the law in federal court because it imposes a $50,000 fine on organizations in the event a noncitizen person collects or handles voter registration forms.
“The injunction means the law can't go into effect, at least as to the non-citizen provision, and that’s the provision that bars all non-citizens, whether lawful or not, from participating in voter registration activities for third-party voter registration organizations,” said Adriel I. Cepeda Derieux, deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)'s Voting Rights Project.
The lawsuit was filed by the ACLU, the ACLU of Florida, LatinoJustice PRLDEF, Dēmos, and Arnold & Porter on behalf of the Hispanic Federation, Poder Latinx, and individual clients.
“Part of why our clients and other groups sued is because a lot of the law is rather vague and unclear and that lack of clarity essentially chills these organizations’ voter registration activities because the risk of violating this law and being on the hook for $50,000 per person is just too grave,” Cepeda Derieux told the Florida Record.
The state of Florida filed a notice of appeal with the district court challenging Judge Walker’s preliminary injunction.
However, a briefing scheduled has yet to be issued by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.
“The record is clear that this law is just very pernicious and it's unfortunate that it got here,” Cepeda Derieux said in an interview. “The law stands to harm, if allowed to take effect, well-meaning, hardworking people who do vital work in their communities and for their democracy. It really put these plaintiff groups between a rock and a hard place.”
As previously reported in the Florida Record, the new law also requires third-party voter registration organizations to register anew every single election cycle, prohibits prefilled information on registration applications, and increases the total aggregate fine that an organization can be assessed from 50,000 to $250,000.
"Florida ranks unfortunately low in voter registrations and these organizations help fill the gap," Cepeda Derieux added. "They go out into their communities and engage people and in doing so, they communicate a message that voting is important and that people should be part of their communities and their democracies. This is the message that this law was going to stifle."