A bill that would have thwarted Florida voter ID laws died in the Senate Tuesday, June 22, 2021. | about.facebook.com/actions/preparing-for-elections-on-facebook/?utm_source=Search&utm_medium=google&utm_campaign=USPublicAffairs&utm_content=Search-facebook%20for%20politics-510972687520
A bill that would have thwarted Florida voter ID laws died in the Senate Tuesday, June 22, 2021. | about.facebook.com/actions/preparing-for-elections-on-facebook/?utm_source=Search&utm_medium=google&utm_campaign=USPublicAffairs&utm_content=Search-facebook%20for%20politics-510972687520
A federal bill that would have circumvented Florida voter ID laws was blocked in the U.S. Senate after Republican senators unanimously opposed it on June 22.
Sixty votes were needed to begin debate on the Senate version of bill, S. 1, but only 50 – all from Democrats – were received, Chad Pergram of Fox News reported.
Florida is one of 36 states requiring voters to show a form of identification at the polls, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. However, the recently passed House version of the bill, H.R. 1, would have allowed voters to sign an affidavit attesting to their identity instead of showing an identification card or other documents proving their name and address.
The legislation also intended to reduce the power of wealthy parties in politics and strengthen public servant and anti-corruption ethic rules.
But the measure would have created a 6-1 matching system for small dollar campaign donations and funded it with surcharges on corporate and high taxpayer settlements with the federal government. Every campaign donation of $200 or less would be matched with a federal contribution of $1,200 or less, according to the Committee on House Administration.
In addition, it would have nationalized the administration of elections, which oversteps the constitutional bounds of the federal government and prevents states from determining their own voting practices. Furthermore, H.R. 1 mandates a code of ethics for the Supreme Court, which violates the separation of powers, the Committee on House Administration said.
Florida's new bill, SB90, will allow for a week of early voting, require voter ID for mail-in ballots, mandate that voters must request mail-in ballots every election cycle to receive them and allow ballot drop boxes to operate during normal early voting hours, Empire State Today reported.
A March survey by pollster Rasmussen Reports found that 75% of likely U.S. voters believe voters should be required to show photo identification such as a driver’s license before being allowed to vote and 21% are opposed to such a requirement. That's up from 67% in favor, per a Rasmussen poll from October 2018.
According to the Honest Elections Project, 64% of voters, including 51% of Black and 66% of Hispanic voters as well as 59% of urban and 61% independent voters, want to increase voting safeguards that mitigate fraud – not decrease them.
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