FIGHTING VOTER INTIMIDATION

THE IMPACT

This major Voting Rights Act lawsuit accuses Florida officials of a yearslong campaign to intimidate and prevent people with previous convictions from voting. A successful resolution will help secure the voting rights of 1.4 million Floridians and deter illegal intimidation by statewide “election police” in Florida and other states.

THE CASE

In 2018, Florida voters approved a state constitutional amendment, Amendment 4, which restored voting rights to people with previous felony convictions. At the time it was passed, more than 1.4 million Floridians — almost 7% of the state’s population — would have their rights restored, representing the largest mass enfranchisement of voters in the U.S. in decades. However, as alleged in the complaint, DeSantis and other officials worked since 2018 to undermine Amendment 4 by:

• Providing inaccurate, incomplete, or misleading information to potential voters who try to determine their eligibility to vote,
• Creating a byzantine process in which voter eligibility is determined by varying local practices depending on where the potential voter lives, and
• Since 2022, creating, publicizing, and deploying an “election police” unit designed by DeSantis to arrest people for having voted, including some people who were encouraged to register to vote and provided with a voter ID from the Florida Secretary of State

In one high-profile example, DeSantis announced that his administration had orchestrated the arrest and prosecution of 20 individuals who had voted in the 2020 elections, and warned that there would be “many more” arrests to come. However, many of the arrestees believed in good faith they were eligible to vote, and some had even been issued voter identification cards by the state.

In July 2023, Free + Fair and co-counsel filed the lawsuit on behalf of FRRC – a nonpartisan, Nobel Peace Prize-nominated organization dedicated to ending disenfranchisement and discrimination against people with convictions – and several Florida citizens. The complaint alleged that the Governor’s creation and amplification of the Office of Election Crimes and Security and its campaign of arrests, coupled with the earlier roadblocks to registration, was a “national embarrassment” which “turned the simple act of voting into a complicated and risky venture in the eyes of those who were re-enfranchised.”

On May 6, 2024, the lawsuit entered court-ordered mediation. On May 10, 2024, the Florida Department of State initiated rulemaking under Chapter 120 of the Florida Statutes, according to the mediator’s report. As reflected in the mediator’s report, the plaintiffs “may re-file their case if the rulemaking, or subsequent implementation of any adopted rule, fails to alleviate their concerns.”

THE TEAM

FRRC and the intimidated voters are represented pro bono by Free + Fair, Arnold & Porter, and Weil Gotshal & Manges.