New Election Law Clears Hurdles and White Paper

This is the main article on the tampabay.com website. On another note, here is my white paper. 

Enjoy! And become educated. :)

Florida’s Election Law (HB 1355): Who knew College Students were Collateral Damage?

Florida Election Reform Act of 2001:

The 2000 election between George W. Bush and Al Gore, Jr. was a catastrophic event that put Florida’s election process front and center. Because of the unpleasant aftermath of the 2000 election (e.g. the question of which candidate should be awarded Florida’s 25 electoral votes; the subsequent recount of votes in Florida, required by state law, that followed the election because of the slim margin of victory by Bush), Florida officially implemented early voting in 2004 as part of the post-2000 election reform (MacManus, 2003) bill entitled the Florida Election Reform Act of 2001 (FERA). To combat the nickname “Flori-duh”, which was being used by the media because of the 2000 election, Floridians expressed that they wanted election reform and the Florida state legislature listened (MacManus, 2003).  The bill was overwhelmingly passed by the legislature (unanimous in the House and 38 Yeas and 2 Nays in the Senate). Reforms included: precinct-based voting technology, prohibition of punch cards and other antiquated voting systems in Florida, provision of $2 million dollars for the development and implementation of a statewide centralized voter registration database by June 2002, and allowing a voter whose name does not appear on the voter registration roll to vote a provisional ballot that will be counted if the voter is subsequently found to be properly registered to vote (MacManus, 2003).

Those with ‘Some College’ Voting Percentages in Florida:

According to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) (2011), when Florida implemented early voting in 2004, 60.8% of Floridians (those with ‘some college’) voted in the 2004 Presidential election. In the elections that followed—the state saw low voter turnout in non-Presidential years and a high voter turnout in Presidential election years. For example, 25% of those with ‘some college’ voted in the 2006 non-Presidential election, 63.9% in the 2008 Presidential election, and 29.6% in the 2010 non-Presidential election.

Curbing Voter Fraud or Disenfranchising College Students?:

With the signing of HB 1355—an election reform bill- into law by Governor Rick Scott, the state legislature reduced the early voting period from fourteen days to eight days in order to curb voter fraud. However, voter fraud has been nearly nonexistent since the state created an election database in 2006 (McNab, 26 April 2011). Friedman (2005) proposed that there are two types of disenfranchisement—partisan--where one party uses tactics to depress voter turnout of another party’s constituency and structural--legislation, regulations, and actions of political agents who suppress the votes of a minority group. Florida Democrats speculate that HB 1355 was not passed into law to curb voter fraud but to make it harder for Democratic-leaning college students to vote during the 2012 election (Kennedy, 5 May 2011). Is it possible that the Republicans have implemented both types of disenfranchisement in Florida? Case-in-point, during the 2008 election, college students took advantage of the extra time to make it to the polls to vote in the presidential election (Somanader, 9 May 2011) and across the country 66% of the youth voted for Obama (Keeter, Horowitz, & Tyson, 2008). How will this new reduction in early voting time impact college students who attend a college far away from home?

According to the president of the League of Women Voters Deidre MacNab, “HB 1355 […] impact[s] Florida’s university students in particular, along with other voters who move within Florida but outside their county. What is the point of this rule change, other than to disenfranchise the 1 in 6 citizens who move during any given year?” (Orlando Sentinel, 15 April 2011).

How the new election law affects college students: The new election reform law affects college students in two ways: (1) if a student moves to a different county prior to Election Day, he cannot change his address at the polls like he previously could in the state and (2) third party voter registration groups are now fined if they do not turn in voter registration forms within 48 hours of receiving them.

In regards to point number one, a college student away from home can cast a provisional ballot, which according to Sharockman (2011) are only counted in highly contested elections. Thus, college students must travel home during the early voting period (now cut down to eight days from fourteen) to vote. What if they can’t make it home during that time period? They must then cast a provisional ballot, because their permanent address, typically their home address not their college address, is reflected on their license, even though their correct voter information is located in the statewide registry established after the 2000 election. According to Shambon and Abouchar (2006), in 2005, the United States Election Assistance Commission (EAC) administered a survey to local election administration jurisdictions (e.g. districts). The report, published by the Government Accountability Office in 2006 found that the jurisdictions reported,“1, 901, 591 provisional ballots had been cast (in the 2004 election) and 1,225, 915 (64.5%) of those cast had been counted” (p. 175). Thus, casting a provisional ballot does not guarantee that it will be counted in the election. 

In regards to point number two, third party voter registration groups (e.g. League of Women Voters, College Democrats, College Republicans, etc.) are not only fined for turning in forms late, but also fined if there is incorrect information on the forms. Why would third party registration groups come onto college campus’ to register students to vote if they are going to be fined if information provided is incorrect or they do not get the forms back to the Supervisor of Elections on time? Thus, college students are negatively impacted by the change in the election law because they essentially could be silenced (e.g. provisional ballot not counted; not registered to vote) in upcoming elections. (Schorsch, 20 April 2011).

Implications for Education

In 1998, an amendment was added to the Higher Education Act that requires all colleges and universities to make a good faith effort to provide voter registration forms to college students. This bill required all individuals collecting voter registration forms, including student grassroots organizations on campus (e.g. College Democrats and College Republicans) to provide information on all of their volunteers. Additionally, they must obtain official, custom-made registration forms from the local Supervisor of Elections with the organizations name on the form. Many voter registration organizations, such as the League of Women Voters, College Democrats, and College Republicans have passed out voter registration forms on college campuses. If the forms were turned in late and/or the information did not match the state database, the organization was fined and that money applied to voter education in the state of Florida.

However, since HB 1355 became law, any fines for turning in registration forms late (after 48 hours), collected by the Supervisor of Elections will no longer go towards voter education in the state (UCF College Democrats, 2011; Florida Chapter 2011-40, 2011). This may lead to decreased voter registration and in turn decreased voting.

Voter education is a component of civic literacy (Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), 2003), which includes civic knowledge, civic skills, and civic engagement (Sherrod, Torney-Puta, & Flanagan, 2010). Specifically, voter education is “usually identified as a function of the electoral authority (e.g. Supervisor of Elections Office) and is occasionally subcontracted by them to private companies and civil society organizations (e.g. League of Women Voters)” (ACE, 2011). Voter education includes targeting eligible voters (including college students) with information about the upcoming election, registration process, and the general electoral process and is an essential component to ensuring that voters can effectively exercise their voting rights and express their political will through the electoral process (ACE, 2011). HB 1355 essentially restricts voter education to many of our citizens—college students because the associated fines may impact whether organizations such as the League of Women Voters will venture onto campuses in attempts to register students to vote (Campbell, 9 May 2011).

Additionally, restricting voter education could also hamper civic literacy. In 2006, the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) conducted a survey to examine what American college students knew about civic literacy, including the electoral process. In 2006, over 14,000 college students averaged a failing grade on the ISI Civic Literacy Test. Therefore, essentially cutting voter education funds is detrimental to curbing this problem in the state and country. Instead of cutting voter education funds we need to increase funding; it is clear that college students lack fundamental knowledge of the American electoral process.

How can we combat the reduction of voter education funds and still promote voter education? Richie (2007) suggests that schools register students in their high school civics/government classes as well as on Constitution Day (also known as Citizenship Day, September 17). Additionally, districts need to require a class that explains the electoral process, mechanics, and common myths of the voting process (Richie, 2007). Topics should include a discussion on the difference between casting a provisional ballot and an absentee ballot and which ballots are typically counted in an election, regardless of how close of an election it is between candidates. Such topics are typically not covered in a high school government class. Richie proposes that if these changes are implemented, all the youth leaving high school will be registered to vote and have a deeper understanding of the democratic process.

References

ACE Project: The electoral knowledge network. (2011). Basic voter education. Retrieved from http://aceproject.org/ace-en/topics/ve/vea/vea03.

Campbell, A. (2011, May 9). League of women voters announces cessation of voter registration. Retrieved from http://m.naplesnews.com/news/2011/may/09/league-of-women-voters-announces-cessation-of-vote/.

Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE). (2003). Civics curriculum and civics skills: Recent evidence. Retrieved from  http://www.civicyouth.org/PopUps/FactSheets/FS_Civics_Curriculum_Skills.pdf.

Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE). (2011). Breakdown of voting by demographic per state. Medford, MA: Tufts University Jonathon M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service.

Florida Chapter 2011-40. Committee substitute for committee substitute for house bill no. 1355.

Friedman, A.K. (2005). Voter disenfranchisement and policy toward election reform. Review of Policy Research, 22(6), 787-810.

H.R. 6. (1998). P.L. 105-244 Amendments to the higher education ac of 1965. Retrieved from http://www2.ed.gov/policy/highered/leg/hea98/HR6.pdf.

Intercollegiate Studies Institute. (2011). Enlightened citizenship: How civic knowledge trumps a college degree in promoting active civic engagement. Wilmington, DE: American Civic Literacy Program. Retrieved from http://www.americancivicliteracy.org/report/pdf/02-22-11/civic_literacy_report_11.pdf.

Keeter, S., Horowitz, J., & Tyson, A. (2008). Young voters in the 2008 election. Washington, D.C.: Pew Center for the People and the Press.

Kennedy, J. (2011, May 5). Elections law rewrite closer to completion. The Palm Beach Post. Retrieved from http://docs.newsbank.com/s/InfoWeb/aggdocs/AWNB/1370EB64CE8D6720/0D0CB5811D21E575?pmulti=PBPB&slang=en-US.

MacManus, S.A. (2003). Goodbye chads, butterfly ballots, overvotes, and recount ruckuses! Election reform in Florida: 2000-2003. Presented at the National Press Club: Washington, DC.

MacNab, D. (2011, April 15). Jim crow tactics return to Florida. Orlando Sentinel.  Retrieved from http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/orlando_opinionators/tag/hb-1355.

MacNab, D. (2011, April 26). War against the voters. St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved from http://docs.newsbank.com/s/InfoWeb/aggdocs/AWNB/136DBA0091FA91D0/0D0CB5811D21E575?pmulti=SPTB&slang=en-US.

Morgenstern, C. (2008, Nov. 10). Election 2008: Second-largest youth voter turnout in American history. The Tartan. Retrieved from http://thetartan.org/2008/11/10/news/elections.

Richie, R. (2007). Leave no voter behind: Seeking 100 percent voter registration and effective civic education. National Civic Review, 39-45. doi: 10.1002/ncr.186.

Schorsch, P. (2011, April 20). Elections bill is an assault on voters, say HB 1355 opponents. Retrieved from http://saintpetersblog.com/2011/04/elections-bill-is-an-assault-on-voters-say-hb-1355-opponents/.

Shambon, L., & Abouchar, K. (2006). Trapped by precincts? The help America vote act’s provisional ballots and the problems of precincts. Legislation and Public Policy, 10(133), 133-194.

Sherrod, L.R., Torney-Purta, J., & Flanagan C.A. (2010). Introduction: Research on the development of citizenship: A field comes of age. (p. 1-22). In Sherrod, L.R., Torney-Purta, J., & Flanagan C.A. (Eds.) Handbook of research on civic engagement in youth. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

Somanader, T. (2011, May 9). Florida gop passes radical overhaul of election law jeopardizing voting rights of elderly, military, students. Retrieved from http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/05/09/164865/florida-voter-law/.

UCF College Democrats. (2011, April 7). HB 1355 A Bill to Restrict Voter Turnout. Retrieved from http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/orlando_opinionators/2011/04/hb-1355-a-bill-to-restrict-voter-turnout.html.