Dawn Quarles: Confronting Florida’s registration law

Dawn Quarles: Confronting Florida's registration law

Dawn Quarles is a teacher at Pace High School in Pace, Fla. Photo Provided

Florida high school teacher Dawn Quarles received national attention when she was ensnared by the state’s new voter registration law. An injunction by a federal court last week could prevent further incidents.

In October, Quarles was registering her Pace High School students to vote, and she turned in the forms four or five days after they were completed. She was not aware that the law had changed to require that registration applications be returned in 48 hours.

“For me, kids probably aren’t going to drive themselves to the supervisor of elections office, so I felt I needed to help them,” Quarles said in January.

The state never actually enforced her $1,000 fine, Quarles said, and with the new registration timeframe on hold, she may avoid similar fines in the future.

By Ethan Magoc, News21