Thank you for helping us protect your right to vote

AFSCME Florida Council 79 is working with a group of non-partisan voting and civil rights organizations – called the Voter Protection Coalition — to safeguard the right to vote. Members of the coalition include the AFL-CIO, ACLU of Florida, Advancement Project, People for the American Way Foundation, the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and SEIU/Local 1199.

The period has passed to report your voting experiences and problems in the Aug. 31 primary election, but we received thousands of responses from around the state that help us identify areas of success and ones requiring attention to ensure a smooth and accurate general election. Thank you again for your help.

Groups Ask Florida Supreme Court to Strike Law Requiring Tossing of Provisional Ballots

TALLAHASSEE – Saying an election law outlining the use of provisional ballots is an unconstitutional violation of the right to vote, several statewide unions today filed a lawsuit challenging a Florida statute that requires elections officials to throw out provisional ballots cast by voters in the wrong precincts.

Provisional ballots will be available at precincts statewide for voters who can't find their names listed at the polls or who are told they aren’t eligible to vote. But Section 101.048 of the Florida Statutes requires the state to discard as "illegal" the provisional ballots of voters who cast them in a precinct other than the one assigned by elections officials. The unions argue the law is unconstitutional because it disfranchises voters who are, in fact, eligible to vote in county, state and national elections.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Union (AFSCME) Council 79, AFL-CIO and SEIU/Local 1199 filed today’s lawsuit in the Florida Supreme Court. The unions are asking the court to strike down the law and order Secretary of State Glenda Hood to revamp the provisional balloting rules before the November 2004 election. They argue the Florida statute spelling out rules for provisional ballots violates the Florida Constitution because it determines who is an “eligible voter” based on the precincts assigned by elections officials, rather than by the county of residence.