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Random citizens can contest your voting right in many states

in 2017/Top Headlines by

Calls by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump for his supporters to watch for fraud at the polls have raised concerns about a longstanding but little used Election Day tactic — citizen voter challenges. At least four battleground states — Florida, Iowa, Nevada and Pennsylvania — not only allow private citizens to challenge the eligibility of other voters inside polling locations but place the burden of proof on the person who is challenged. In Florida and Pennsylvania, a challenged voter in…

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Florida voters sounding off about election problems

in 2017/Top Headlines by

A coalition of groups monitoring voting across the country says it’s getting more calls from voters in Florida than any other state. Members of the Election Protection Coalition said Thursday they’ve received more than 1,700 calls to their election hotline since Florida kicked off early voting late last month. Nearly 5 million voters have already voted. Kristen Clarke, president of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, says the majority of Florida calls have been from voters asking about…

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Nancy Pelosi thanks Florida Democrats for fighting for redistricting

in 2017/Top Headlines by

The Florida Supreme Court’s decision of a year ago to declare eight of the state’s 27 congressional districts to be drawn up in violation of the state’s constitution was greeted with delight by Democrats, and not just in Florida. Although the odds of recapturing the House of Representatives are considered extremely low this fall, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is certainly going to keep hope alive during the party’s convention week in Philadelphia, and she praised Florida Democrats for fighting…

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Redistricting plaintiffs seek sanctions against Corrine Brown

in Statewide/Top Headlines by

The winners of the congressional redistricting fight are seeking to make Corrine Brown pay for challenging them. The League of Women Voters of Florida, Common Cause and others last week filed a motion for sanctions against the north Florida congresswoman. Brown had unsuccessfully fought the redrawing of Florida’s congressional districts. Specifically, the Jacksonville Democrat had asked the court to set aside her redrawn seat, the 5th Congressional District. Brown said her new district violates federal voting laws by cutting down the influence of minority voters and discriminates against them. A panel…

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Martin Dyckman: Courts failed organizations that won redistricting fight

in Statewide/Top Headlines by

If only the Florida Constitution included a provision like this: (1) Members of the Legislature who vote for measures subsequently held unconstitutional shall be liable jointly and severally for all attorney fees and costs as established by the court. (2) Failure to pay such liabilities within 60 days of final judgment shall constitute disqualification for re-election or election to another office. That is, to be sure, as far-fetched a dream as hitting the Powerball, if not more so. But it’s…

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Pam Bondi goes to Nevada

Drawing on lessons learned after a nightclub massacre last year in Orlando, Attorney General Pam Bondi and members of her

Corrine Brown, fired up and ready to go — to lunch

in 2017/Top Headlines by

With the oldest son of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. standing behind her, U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown held a master class in political theater at a Tallahassee buffet restaurant Friday. It came after a court hearing on her legal challenge of the state’s new congressional district map. In the morning, a panel of federal judges heard arguments — but did not immediately rule — on her request for a preliminary injunction to freeze in place the old map until a final…

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Corrine Brown’s lawyer makes historical argument to keep district lines

in 2017/Top Headlines by

A lawyer for U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown on Friday told a panel of federal judges that Florida’s new congressional map flies in the face of 100 years of history and would do violence to the voting rights of her black constituency. William Sheppard argued that the former District, which meanders from Jacksonville through Gainesville to Sanford, follows the course of the St. John’s River, where black residents settled and stayed after fleeing discrimination and racist attacks early last century. Brown’s former 5th Congressional…

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