TALLAHASSEE — All Voting is Local Florida State Director Brad Ashwell issued the following statement in response to a federal judge’s ruling Thursday that parts of Senate Bill 90 (signed into law last year) are unconstitutional:
“This marks a monumental victory for voting rights in Florida and will remove barriers to the ballot box that Gov. DeSantis and conspiracy theorists in the legislature are trying to put up. It confirms what we knew all along: that proponents of the Big Lie in Florida are trying to use unconstitutional measures to sabotage elections and make it harder for people to vote.
“We applaud the court for its ruling and, especially, for requiring Florida’s legislature to seek preclearance for any further changes to these voting provisions.”
Background
On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Mark Walker ruled that certain provisions in Senate Bill 90 are unconstitutional, a year after the bill was signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis. Per the ruling, ballot drop boxes cannot be limited through staffing requirements or restrictions to hours and days, and third-party voter registration efforts cannot be restricted by arbitrary notification and delivery provisions.
Voters can also once again receive water or assistance if waiting in long lines. Unfortunately, the court did not strike down other parts of the law that make it harder to vote by mail. The court required the state to preclear any changes to state law relating to third-party voter registration groups, drop boxes, or “line warming” activities as defined in the order. Section 3(c) of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 allows for a court to require federal preclearance of changes to state and local voting practices where it is found that a jurisdiction violated the Fourteenth or Fifteenth Amendment.