Holy shit. From today's
Tampa Tribune:
The Republican Party said Tuesday that it may equip its Florida poll watchers with lists of voters whose registrations appear fraudulent, then use a little-known section of state law to try blocking them from voting as they arrive at the polls.
With both sides amassing armies of lawyers, the prospect of the fight working its way into neighborhood polling stations is frightening county elections supervisors because the arcane procedure is so unwieldy that it could SHUT DOWN ENTIRE STATIONS EACH TIME IT IS EXERCISED (emphasis mine).
More below the fold. Link to full article is here.
The sidebar (on the print edition, not the online edition), breaks down the procedure, with my comments in italics:
1. The observer cites reasons for the challenge in an affadavit.
- The would-be voter is notifed of the challenge and asked to file a written response.
- Precinct workers (that is, all those INSIDE the polling station on Election Day) vote on whether the challenge should be upheld or denied. The article later states that at this time ALL voting in the entire polling place is suspended during this part of the procedure, while the precinct workers convene to consider a challenge!
- If the poll workers uphold the challenge, the voter is allowed to fill out a provisional ballot to be considered later by the county canvassing board.
The governing statute, Title IX, Chapter 101.111, can be found here. This is meant to be used in isolated, individual cases only. Two election supervisors interviewed for the story, both Republicans, stated they had essentially never encountered challenges brought under provisions of this statute.
The Republicans are doing this because there are no provisions for filing challenges before Election Day. The prospect of having entire precincts shut down to address challenges under this statute is very bad. This definitely needs more play in the media. A big backlash might stop them in their tracks.
In the meantime, I think things could get VERY ugly in polling places across Florida, especially the minority precincts.
Andy
Sarasota