It was reported August 12th in the Miami Herald that the ACLU, the NAACP and Citizens for Police Accountability (a PAC formed by the ACLU) are suing the State of Florida over the anti-petition law. The law prohibits us from asking voters to sign a petition within 100 feet of a polling place. That is a hell of a distance. I gave up getting signatures after that law. You can’t even get near the cars at some locations, that is how far 100 feet is. They came out and measured last year in North Miami and drew a chalk circle from the door...that is how I know what 100 feet looks like.ACLU lawyer, Muslima Lewis said that “Petition gatherers have the right under the First Amendment to solicit signatures from voters who are leaving polling places.” The First Amendment says we citizens have the right to “...petition the government for a redress of grievances.” The suit was brought to the ACLU by Fort Myers citizens who want to collect signatures during the August 26th primary. A favorable ruling will help the entire State.
I think it was 50 feet before they enacted this new law in Florida. That is still pretty far but at least it is manageable.
4 comments:
I was collecting exit interviews asking voters in the district about their commissioner. I checked with the election's deputy on duty and was told "not a problem as long as it was as people were leaving and the questions had nothing to do with the election in progress." Both true for what I was doing. After about 45 minutes, one of the city council members watched me for a while and got on her cell phone. Within a matter of minutes the same election's person who told me it was OK came out and said she had gotten a call from the Miami-Dade elections department ordering me to 100 feet. Interviews over. It was impossible to approach voters from 100 feet. Isn't it comforting to know that the county elections department does not give a crap about voter's rights and that they are manipulated by an elected official?
Hope the ACLU wins this.
100 feet is a third of a football field.
thanks for the math and sports lesson!
thanks for the math and sports lesson!
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