Judge Blocks Fla. Voter Registration Law

[jpak]

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nat-elect/2006/aug/28/082804603.html

MIAMI (AP) - A federal judge on Monday declared a new Florida voter registration law unconstitutional, ruling that its stiff penalties for violations threaten free speech rights and that political parties were improperly exempted.

The 48-page ruling by U.S. District Judge Patricia Seitz means that state authorities cannot enforce the provisions of the law. It took effect Jan. 1 and has been blamed by several labor unions and nonprofit groups for effectively blocking voter registration drives across the state because of the financial risk.

"If third-party voter registration organizations permanently cease their voter registration efforts, Florida citizens will be stripped of an important means and choice of registering to vote and of associating with one another," Seitz wrote.

The law also "unconstitutionally discriminates" against third-party registration groups because it does not apply to political parties, Seitz added.

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[Surya Gayatri]

1. Good news for "election protection"--

Thank you Judge Seitz for taking a stand in favor of a fair & free vote.

Is there any way we can contact this judge to express our gratitude? SG

[China_cat]

2. There's just one little problem with this

The churches will now feel exonerated in their efforts to force their congregations and others to vote the way they want them to.

Churches which use their pulpits for political purposes risk losing their tax exempt status. This effectively cancels that. Hard choices.

[Fredda Weinberg]

3. Do you have a source for that, please? n/t

[China_cat]

4. For which? That churches are supposed to lose their

tax exempt status for political activity?

http://atheism.about.com/od/churchestaxexemptions/a/overview.htm

#6
Church tax exemptions are in jeopardy if an organization engages in direct political activity either against or on behalf of a political candidate or in an attempt to directly influence the passage of particular legislation. Churches and religious organizations, just as any other tax-exempt charitable organization, are free to comment on any social, political, or moral issues. They may not, however, speak out for or against political candidates if they wish to continue being tax-exempt. Losing tax-exempt status can mean both having to pay income taxes and that donations to the group will not be tax deductible by the donors.

[Fredda Weinberg]

6. Thanx. What does this have to do with the case in Florida? n/t

[China_cat]

7. The case hangs on tax exempt organizations being

barred from conducting voter registration drives. (Which included political parties) It gives churches the right to conduct voter registration drives...even in the church. The most political of the churches will be the ones trying to make sure that ONLY those who will vote their way will get registered.

[Fredda Weinberg]

9. Are we reading the same Florida statute?

Where were tax exempt organizations being barred? The law was overturned *because* political parties weren't included.

[rniel]

5. Has anyone ever really enforced that law

Has a church lost their tax exempt status. Seems to me that they can do whatever they want with impunity.

[China_cat]

8. Here's one. But none lately.

The Church at Pierce Creek near Binghamton, N.Y., lost its tax-exempt status in 1995 after the IRS determined it had violated federal tax law by publishing a full-page ad in USA Today in late October of 1992 advising people that voting for presidential candidate Bill Clinton was a sin and soliciting tax-exempt donations to defray the cost of the ad.