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Statement of Howard L. Simon, Executive Director of the American
Civil Liberties Union of Florida
January 10, 2001
The American Civil Liberties Union is proud to join with the N.A.A.C.P. and our other allies in the civil rights movement to bring this lawsuit in an effort to address the voting irregularities and the mass disenfranchisement of voters that took place this past and to bring reforms to the way in which Floridians vote.
This lawsuit is the first in a series of comprehensive steps that must be taken to reform the way in which Florida votes. There is a lot to be done in the courts, the legislature, and by county election boards in order to make sure that every citizen not only has a right to vote, but that every vote is accurately recorded. Clearly that did not happen in this past election, and we must make sure that the debacle of the November elections is not repeated the next time Floridians go to the polls.
This lawsuit is not just about replacing the out-dated error prone voting machinery that has left voters who cast a vote by punch card with a reasonable fear that their vote was not recorded or recorded accurately. It is outrageous that the most fundamental principle of our democracy ? the right to vote ? would be implemented by machines that have a predictable and expected error rate. Democracy cannot tolerate an acceptable rate of voter disenfranchisement.
But this lawsuit addresses more than voting technology; it addresses barriers to the right to vote, and to have your vote accurately recorded that were evident in the November election. Voters were not permitted to vote because their names were not on the list of eligible voters despite having registered at motor vehicle offices. Voters were improperly purged from official's lists of eligible voters. Voters were unable to vote because election workers failed to provide required assistance at the polls including translation and language assistance. Voters were not permitted to vote by signing an affidavit because they did not have adequate or the right kind of identification. And, these things all happened disproportionately in precincts with large numbers of minority voters. These barriers to the right to vote implicate the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), the "motor voter" law, State law, the federal Voting Rights Act and our constitutional principles requiring equal protection of the laws and are being challenged as illegal in this lawsuit.
This lawsuit is not about reversing the outcome of the election or challenging the legitimacy of any particular candidate. The motivations behind filing this lawsuit are bigger than any candidate or political party. This lawsuit addresses the mass disenfranchisement of African, Hiatian-American and other voters in Florida on Election Day. This mass disenfranchisement is one of the most egregious and widespread civil rights violations in recent history.
Though a disproportionate number of those who were denied the right to vote last November were black, the problem with the Florida electoral system did not fall exclusively on the black community. In Palm Beach County, thousands of ballots were spoiled and not counted due to a faulty and unclear ballot design; in Miami-Dade County, language assistance in precincts with large numbers of Kreyol-speaking voters was not provided and more than a thousand ballots were not count due to the failure of the punch card to be correctly aligned. And in Osceola, Seminole and Orange Counties, bilingual assistance to Spanish-speaking voters was not provided, despite the requirement of the federal Voting Rights Act.
Whether or not these failures were a result of discrimination or widespread ineptitude, the fact remains that African American and Haitian American voters were affected disproportionately. Under the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which provided legally enforceable remedies to the decades-long practices of poll taxes, literacy tests, voter intimidation and other more violent forms of voter intimidation, individuals do not have to prove discriminatory intent. The Voting Rights Act prohibits barriers to the right to vote that have a discriminatory impact.
The ACLU has already filed voting rights lawsuits in Georgia, and we are scheduled to file another next week in Illinois. Other voting rights lawsuits in other states are likely.
ACLU Action During the Presidential Election
During the 2000 Presidential election, the ACLU received complaints from hundreds of voters about various aspects of the state's voting process. Working in conjunction with our National Voting Rights Project, based in Atlanta, the ACLU filed amicus curiae briefs in both the Palm Beach County Circuit Court and the 4th District Court of Appeal challenging the now-infamous Palm Beach "butterfly ballot" that disenfranchised thousands of voters who "overvoted" or mistakenly voted for Reform Party Candidate Pat Buchanan. The ACLU urged the Court to use its power to remedy the ballot confusion, including ordering a new countywide election.
The ACLU also filed an amicus curiae brief in the U. S. Supreme Court defending the authority of the Florida Supreme Court to interpret and resolve conflicts in State law, and supporting the Court's ruling that permitted an extension of time for the hand recount of disputed ballots.
Background on ACLU's Work to Secure Voting Rights
The American Civil Liberties Union created the National ACLU Voting Rights Project in 1965 in order to enforce the newly enacted Voting Rights Act. The Project has had a major impact on civil rights in America, particularly in small towns and rural communities in the South where its work has been directly responsible for the election of countless black officials and, as a result, has had a profound impact on local, state and national politics.
From the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965 through the 1980's, the ACLU Foundation's Voting Rights Project filed approximately 200 lawsuits in as many separate jurisdictions, shouldering most of the burden of private voting rights enforcement. The Voting Rights Project's work took on increasing importance through the 1980's when the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division during the Reagan administration virtually abandoned its voting rights enforcement responsibilities under the law. The project challenged racial barriers to the right to vote as well as election challenges that involved the clarity of the ballot and other voting irregularities.
In addition to its work challenging racially-based voting discrimination, the ACLU has routinely represented voters and candidates in election contests in order to protect the right to vote and the right to participate in an election process that is fair. The ACLU's voting rights work has involved challenges to elections and voting schemes ranging from city council member to sheriff to governor and, this year, president of the United States. And it has done so without regard for partisan interests and concerns that might have been involved in the elections.
The work of the ACLU Voting Rights Project has been in furtherance of the constitutional principles expressed by the Supreme Court in the first "one person, one vote" decision, Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U.S. 533, 555 (1964):
"The right to vote freely for the candidate of one's choice is of the essence of a democratic society, and any restrictions on that right strike at the heart of representative government. The legitimacy of elected office, and indeed the legitimacy of government itself, rests upon the fairness and reliability of the electoral process."
- NAACP v. Harris, et al. (class action lawsuit challenging discriminatory voting practies across the state)
- Click here, for additional information and resources on ACLU voting rights cases.
