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Florida Voter Integrity Law Reinstated By Appeals Court In Big Win For DeSantis

Florida Voter Integrity Law Reinstated By Appeals Court In Big Win For DeSantis

So no funny business is permitted in Florida elections under the law restricting ballot harvesting, dropboxes, and private money to run elections. Democrats are out of Zuck.

One year ago, Florida Governor Ron Desantis signed a voter integrity law that curtailed ballot harvesting, the use of drop boxes, and Zuck Bucks (private money to run election functions):

Today, Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law Senate Bill 90, Florida’s new election integrity bill, strengthening voter identification, prohibiting the mass mailing of ballots, banning ballot harvesting and prohibiting private money from administering elections in our state.

On March 31 of this year, liberal District Court Judge Mark Walker issued an injunction halting several provisions, which ruling had little chance of surviving appeal, as the NY Times predicted:

A federal judge in Florida ruled on Thursday that sections of the state’s year-old election law were unconstitutional and racially motivated, and barred the state from making similar changes to its laws in the next decade without the approval of the federal government.

The sharply worded 288-page order, issued by Judge Mark E. Walker of the Federal District Court in Tallahassee, was the first time a federal court had struck down major elements of the wave of voting laws enacted by Republicans since the 2020 election. Finding a pattern of racial bias, Walker in his ruling relied on a little-used legal provision to impose unusual federal restrictions on how a state legislates.

“For the past 20 years, the majority in the Florida Legislature has attacked the voting rights of its Black constituents,” Walker wrote in the decision, which frequently quoted the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Walker argued that the attacks were “part of a cynical effort to suppress turnout among their opponents’ supporters. That, the law does not permit.”

Judge Walker’s decision is certain to be appealed and is likely to be overturned either by the Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta, which tends to lean conservative, or the Supreme Court, which has sharply limited the federal government’s power to intervene in state election law.

And Judge Walker’s ruling didn’t survive. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals just issued a stay pending appeal, which mean the law is back in full force and effect.

The ban on Zuck Bucks was not enjoined, but other provisions were. From the 11th Circuit Opinion:

The district court here permanently enjoined three provisions of Florida law governing elections in that state. It also subjected Florida to a “preclearance” regime whereby the state—for the next decade—must seek and receive the district court’s permission before it can enact or amend certain election laws. The state now asks us to stay that decision pending appeal. After careful consideration, we grant the state’s motion….

Florida’s governor signed Senate Bill 90 into law on May 6, 2021. Plaintiffs sued, challenging four of SB90’s provisions, three of which are relevant here: (1) a provision regulating the use of drop boxes for collecting ballots (the “Drop-Box Provision”), Fla. Stat. § 101.69(2)–(3); (2) a provision requiring third-party voter-registration organizations to deliver voter-registration applications to the county where an applicant resides within a proscribed period of time (the “Registration-Delivery Provision”) and specifying information that third-party voter-registration organizations must provide to would-be registrants (the “Registration-Disclaimer Provision”), Fla. Stat. § 97.0575(3)(a); and (3) a provision prohibiting the solicitation of voters within 150 feet of a drop box or polling place (the “Solicitation Provision”), Fla. Stat. § 102.031(4)(a)–(b).2

First, the Court of Appeals ruled that the injunction was too close to the election:

When the district court here issued its injunction, voting in the next statewide election was set to begin in less than four months (and local elections were ongoing). Moreover, the district court’s injunction implicates voter registration—which is currently underway—and purports to require the state to take action now, such as re-training poll workers. And although the district court satisfied itself that its injunction—including the requirement that the state preclear new voting rules—was not too draconian, we are reminded that “[e]ven seemingly innocuous late-inthe-day judicial alterations to state election laws can interfere with administration of an election and cause unanticipated consequences.” Democratic Nat’l Comm. v. Wis. State Legislature, 141
S. Ct. 28, 31 (2020) (Kavanaugh, J., concurral)….

Next, the Court of Appeals found that given the heightened scrutiny so close to an election, Florida was likely to succeed on the merits:

… we hold that the state is entitled to a stay of the district court’s order enjoining the operation of SB90’s Drop-Box, Registration-Delivery, and Solicitation Provisions and subjecting Florida to preclearance. The district court’s determination regarding the legislature’s intentional discrimination suffers from at least two flaws, either of which justifies a stay. And, although we think it presents a closer question, we hold that the district court’s determination that the Solicitation Provision is unconstitutionally vague and overbroad is sufficiently vulnerable to warrant a stay….

So no funny business is permitted in Florida elections. Democrats are out of Zuck.

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Comments

healthguyfsu | May 6, 2022 at 2:35 pm

Haha…no funny business libs.

Can’t cheat your way this time.

Steven Brizel | May 6, 2022 at 2:36 pm

Is there a possibility that the losing party might seek an en banc ( full hearing by all of the judges) and file a petition for certiorari with SCOTUS?

    The state’s appeal of the ruling hasn’t been decided; I would assume that if 11CCA rules in Florida’s favor there, that would be the time to request en banc or cert.

    The only benefit to appealing the stay would be to try to reimpose the burden on the state of using the district court’s rules during an ongoing election. I can’t see the 11th taking that, and SCOTUS definitely wouldn’t.

Great news!

healthguyfsu | May 6, 2022 at 2:55 pm

Anyone who’s ever administered any event with stakes and competition: tests, gambling, challenges, contests, etc. knows that the integrity of the process is the most important to enacting a secure and valid outcome that can be accepted by both winners and losers.

Dems try to turn this simple principle on its head and claim the only way to have a fair election is make it as easy as possible to both cheat and participate honestly. It defies the logic of basic human nature, and it’s a willful ignorance. It also insults the intelligence of those they would presume to speak for (so I guess that part is consistent since they are always trying to speak for someone that they deem worthy of pity but not a voice)

    Colonel Travis in reply to healthguyfsu. | May 6, 2022 at 4:05 pm

    Yep. Lose elections? Rig elections. Lose court cases? Pack the court. Disagree with speech? Ban it. Leftists cannot win on their merits because their merits suck. They change the rules to suit them.

    4rdm2 in reply to healthguyfsu. | May 7, 2022 at 4:42 am

    To democrats, everything in life is an eternal game of Calvinball.

      CommoChief in reply to 4rdm2. | May 7, 2022 at 12:01 pm

      Which is why the populist right must force the pearl clutching r leaders to use the tactics and tools the left uses in order to beat the left into submission. Instead of reacting to some d/prog EO or CT ruling or new expansion of govt power with fear we should calmly ask ‘are you d/prog sure you want this, because we are going to use it against you when we come into power’.

      Take the new ‘disinformation board’. Fine they created it and will use it. We should appoint just an much an ideologue to run it as they have. Then use the full force of the federal govt to crush dissent 2x as hard as the d/prog. Declare prominent d/prog to be guilty of disinformation and therefore domestic extremists. Don’t stop with deplatforming, nope send a swat team, arrest them, pretrial detention obviously, professional and financial ruin imposed by the process.

      IOW combine the experience of Flynn, Stone and J6. Perhaps only one or two very public examples will be sufficient to ensure the message is delivered and agreement reached that further use of these totalitarian mechanisms is a bad idea and all sides can return to normal free speech and debate.

They will be back, Democrats need fraud worse than 2020

Audit the vote… auditable vote… American civil liberties compact (ACLC).

This man knows how to get work done

To the extent states allow this ballot harvesting bullshit again, wouldn’t it be funny if the harvesting drop boxes got fire bombed each and every night?

My mother voted in Florida in two elections after she had left the state, and a third election (Trump v Biden) after she was dead. She had been living in a nursing home, and ballot harvesters were picking up the ballots, marking them, and sending them in. I’m glad someone is trying to stop this.

So, I guess “Zuck you, lefties!” is appropriate.

    Treguard in reply to UJ. | May 6, 2022 at 4:14 pm

    And I thought “Democrats are out of Zuck” would be my favorite comment.

On a similar topic, has any of the LI crowd seen “2000 Mules”?

Both Trump and DeSantis are steamrolling into the November elections. And “2000 Mules” movie exposing the mind-numbingly extensive voter fraud in 2020 is beginning to make the rounds this weekend. How appropriate for DeSantis and timely.

2000mules.locals.com

It will be easier to pass voter protection legislation after this gets around so I don’t think the Dems will even try to stage another 2020 election theft operation like it this year. They will probably target a few key races in the Senate or House.

    amwick in reply to Pasadena Phil. | May 6, 2022 at 6:22 pm

    I fervently hope you are correct,, but there is still a big part of me that is cynical when it comes to election integrity.

    Ironclaw in reply to Pasadena Phil. | May 6, 2022 at 6:52 pm

    Why wouldn’t they? It wasn’t like they had any consequences whatsoever, even when they got caught red-handed in 2020.

      The biggest problem with 2020 is how the Republicans themselves declared those of us pointing out the theft to be crazy fools. Including Mike Pence. THAT Stupid Party is going to suffer the wrath of Trump in November and there is nothing they can do about it. After that, investigations will begin in earnest next year.

      Stop listening to all of the loser talk on these threads. Their whining is tedious and self-defeating. We are on a major roll. We rarely ever get to have even one superstar to rally around but now we have two! And still, the Stupid among us are trying to play them off against each other. Trump never gets any credit on LI. We need all hands on deck fighting.

      This Dinesh D’Souza movie should change everything. Trump (and hopefully DeSantis too) will be playing it over and over again into November. Trump is NOT part of the Stupid Party.

    Lucifer Morningstar in reply to Pasadena Phil. | May 7, 2022 at 10:47 am

    Too bad then that Dinesh is demanding a $50.00 donation (default donation that comes up) to “Become an Annual Supporter and Watch 2000 Mules!”. If it’s so damn important for people to see this movie then shouldn’t Dinesh be offering it to the public for free and not just another fundraising scam?

    P.S. You link redirects to:

    dinesh.locals.com/support

JohnSmith100 | May 6, 2022 at 5:02 pm

“I don’t think the Dems will even try to stage another 2020 election theft operation like it this year.”

I would not bet on that, they are desperate.

smalltownoklahoman | May 6, 2022 at 6:47 pm

Great news! Florida being one of the most populous states makes it an important one for national elections: both for the number of reps it sends to Congress as well as Electoral College votes. These changes being allowed to stay will make it a lot harder for Dems to cheat in that state.

If you do not see a reason to vote for your Republican candidate just re-read this article.

Lybrarious Booker | May 9, 2022 at 11:16 am

Results Are Better Than Pep Rallies.