In response to the final passage of Florida’s Senate Bill 7050 today (April 28, 2023), the League of Women Voters of Florida President Cecile M. Scoon, Esq. offers the following statement:
“The League of Women Voters of Florida expresses deep disappointment in Florida’s state legislature as both chambers have passed Senate Bill 7050 (2023). The League believes the bill’s sweeping changes will make it harder for Floridians to register to vote and undermine Florida’s reputation as a gold standard of election administration.
This bill continues the consistent and intentional efforts of the legislature to muzzle and ignore the votes and voices of Florida citizens. Senate Bill 7050 does nothing to make voting easier or more secure, nor does it address the problems of Florida’s labyrinthine process of determining voter eligibility.
Since the filing of this legislation, the League has cautioned legislators that making these types of changes to our election process will have consequential impacts on voters and our state.
- The requirements, shortened deadlines, and increased fines for voter registration organizations this legislation establishes are so harsh that the impact may gut many community-based voter registration groups.
- This legislation carves out an exemption from the state’s resign-to-run law for candidates for president or vice president, plainly clearing a path for Gov. Ron DeSantis to focus on his rumored presidential run and not focus on the plethora of issues facing Floridians.
- This legislation creates unnecessary administrative vote-by-mail burdens on both voters and Supervisors of Elections offices, but fails to make basic changes that would improve voter access such as providing persons with past felony convictions to determine their eligibility or improving Florida’s online voter registration system.
Instead of working to further streamline our state’s capacity to administer elections, our state legislature has decided to suppress access to voting for the third year in a row. While the League, the nation’s largest and longest-standing grassroots voter registration organization, is disappointed by Senate Bill 7050’s passage, it will not deter us from continuing our important voter registration work in the Sunshine State. We will also continue to unmuzzle our citizens, defend democracy and empower all lawful voters.”
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Media Contact: Blake Summerlin – blake@lwvfl.org; (772) 217-0772
