[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 8]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 11082]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            CONDEMNING RECENT VOTER SUPPRESSION LEGISLATION

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                         HON. ALCEE L. HASTINGS

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 13, 2011

  Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, on May 19, Florida Governor 
Rick Scott signed into law an egregious Republican bill attacking from 
all angles one of the most fundamental rights of our democracy: the 
right to vote.
  The transgressions contained in this bill are not minor 
inconveniences but elements of a systematic attack against the voting 
rights of minorities both in Florida and across the country.
  In fact, since the adoption of the Voting Rights Act in 1965, the 
Department of Justice has overturned a total of 428 separate laws 
across the country for unconstitutionally infringing on the voting 
rights of minorities. Governor Scott's law needs to be number 429.
  The bill that Governor Scott and Florida Republicans have forced into 
law is nothing more than a backdoor poll tax. It limits access to the 
polls for minorities, seniors, and college students. It reduces the 
number of early voting days and imposes new restrictive regulations on 
voter registration groups.
  With this bill, Governor Scott and the Republicans have sold out the 
most basic rights of Florida's voters in a brazen act of political 
gamesmanship reminiscent of Reconstruction.
  Fortunately, DOJ is finally now reviewing the law after Republicans 
refused to submit their bill for preclearance. A number of groups, 
including the League of Women Voters and the American Civil Liberties 
Union (ACLU), sent a letter to Secretary of State Kurt Browning 
opposing the law.
  The ACLU and Project Vote Smart have also filed a lawsuit under the 
Voting Rights Act to prevent implementation of these new rules. It is 
my hope that soon we can end the affront that is this discriminatory 
law.
  We cannot sit idly by and let Governor Scott and his cronies in the 
Republican-led legislature turn back the clock on 40 years of progress 
just to create an advantage for themselves on Election Day.
  It is the voters of Florida who stand to lose the most from this law, 
Mr. Speaker.
  We have not come this far only to have Republicans maliciously 
undermine our fundamental rights as Americans. When the rights of 
Americans are trampled and discarded with nothing more than a shrug, it 
must not go overlooked.
  We have noticed, we are furious, and we will not let this go!

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