Today, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (“LDF”) and the NAACP Florida State Conference (“FSC”) sent a letter to the Florida House of Representatives expressing opposition to H.B. 7041, and urging them to vote no on the restrictive voting bill. Earlier this week, LDF sent a letter expressing opposition to Florida’s S.B. 90, another restrictive voting bill. The restrictions placed on Vote-by-Mail ballots would disproportionately impact Black voters, impact the rights of Black voters and other voters of color, voters with disabilities, the elderly, and low-income voters. The bill includes unnecessary identification requirements to request a Vote-by-Mail ballot, reduces the availability of dropboxes, restricts who can return a Vote-by-Mail ballot on behalf of another voter, and subjects third parties who return Vote-by-Mail ballots to staffed dropboxes to strict, unnecessary identification requirements. In some cases, the bill makes it a crime to possess another voter’s ballot, regardless of intent. These severe restrictions would likely force voters to vote in person, leading to longer wait times and lines for all voters, or discourage Floridians from voting at all.
Read the full letter here.
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Founded in 1940, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) is the nation’s first civil and human rights law organization. LDF has been completely separate from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) since 1957—although LDF was originally founded by the NAACP and shares its commitment to equal rights. LDF’s Thurgood Marshall Institute is a multi-disciplinary and collaborative hub within LDF that launches targeted campaigns and undertakes innovative research to shape the civil rights narrative. In media attributions, please refer to us as the NAACP Legal Defense Fund or LDF. Follow LDF on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
