A federal judge barred Florida from enforcing the bulk of its new restrictive voting law on Thursday, siding with advocates who said the law was discriminatory.
Highlights
- A federal judge declared the bulk of Florida’s new voting rules unconstitutional and issued a permanent injunction barring their enforcement.
- The Florida law, known as Senate Bill 90, added new restrictions on drop boxes, third-party voter registration, mail voting, and “line warming” activities like giving voters food and water while they wait in line to cast a ballot.
- The ruling, which will likely be appealed, is the first major invalidation of a spate of restrictive new election laws passed in Republican-controlled states last year, fueled by voter fraud anxieties and President Donald Trump’s stolen election lie.
- The judge also ordered Florida to submit to a process known as “preclearance" using Section 3(C) of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.