Two lawsuits have been filed by voting rights groups targeting the Florida Republicans’ SB 90 election administration bill after it was signed into law by Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The SB 90 bill restricts vote-by-mail and ballot drop boxes. It also restricts solicitations near polling places, the self-funding of political campaigns, and how people not registered with a political party can register their candidacy.
One of the lawsuits filed just moments after the law’s signature claims that SB 90 “purports to solve problems that do not exist”.
"[It] caters to a dangerous lie about the 2020 election that threatens our most basic democratic values, and, in the end, makes it harder to vote without adequate justification for doing so,” the suit, backed by Democratic attorney Marc Elias, says.
The second lawsuit alleges that the law violates constitutional protections and the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
“The law’s suppressive and discriminatory provisions make it clear that the Florida Legislature’s goal is to erect additional hurdles to inhibit Florida voters, especially disabled voters, Black voters, and Latino voters, from accessing the ballot box,” said Zachery Morris, a lawyer with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, that brought the latter lawsuit.
The controversy around the SB 90 is much like the situation with the Republican-led US State of Georgia election law, which president Biden branded as "sick" and "un-American".
Georgia passed a law in late March, which changed some local election policies. Among other changes, the law requires a state-issued ID to request a ballot for absentee voting, shortens runoff elections from nine to four weeks, and limits ballot drop boxes, requiring them to be placed at early voting locations and leaving them available only while the precinct is open.
