Tag Archives: Florida

Dawn Quarles: Confronting Florida’s registration law

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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

Coffee Break Ballot, June 6: Current Trends In Voting Rights

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Much of the buzz in the digital conversation on voting rights this morning is a holdover from yesterday’s hotly contested Wisconsin recall election. Supporters and activists on both sides are alleging fraud, suppression and misinformation for voters in Wisconsin.

We’ll discuss some Twitter trends on those issues later, but first — a roundup of what we’ve been discussing in the News21 newsroom this morning.

What We’ve Been Reading

“League of Women Voters and Rock the Vote Announce Resumption of Voter Registration in Florida,” (LWV Florida / Rock the Vote Florida Press Release, 06/06)

“Voter thwarted in Waukesha for lack of ID,” (Laurel Walker, 06/06, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)

“Photo ID, please,” (Editorial, 06/06, New York Post)

“Voting Hot Report, 1996-2010,” (Special Report, U.S. Census)

“Statistics show voter fraud is a rare occurrence in Florida,” (Kathleen Haughney, 06/06, Orlando Sentinel)

Twitter Trends

We tweeted early and often last night, but there’s nothing like a busy day of elections to spike mentions of voting rights-related phrases on Twitter. Thanks in part to alleged improprieties in the Wisconsin recall election, users around the Web mentioned “voter fraud” more than 7,600 times and “voter ID” more than 3,500 times, according to Topsy.com.

This morning, users have been tweeting and retweeting accusations of voter suppression, voter fraud and improper demands for voter ID in the aftermath of the Wisconsin election. (Note: Part of the state’s controversial voter ID law is suspended, pending a court review.)

For more of what we’re reading and where we’re reporting, be sure to follow @WhoCanVote.

 

Coffee Break Ballot, June 4: Current Trends in Voting Rights

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This has been a busy day following a busy weekend in Voting Rights news.

As the recall election in Wisconsin inches closer, the Department of Justice announced this morning that it will send monitors to Milwaukee. On Twitter, progressive supporters have been reminding voters that the state’s voter ID bill is stalled in the courts, so ID is not yet required at the polls.

Florida attracted national attention this weekend for court-ordered holds on its voter registration laws, with press mentions including The New York Times, NPR and The Wall Street Journal.

Here are some stories we’ve been reading in the News21 newsroom.

What We’ve Been Reading

“Justice Department to Monitor Elections in California, New Mexico, South Dakota and Wisconsin,” (Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs, 06/04, Justice.gov)

“Voter ID Opponents Shift Focus to Education, Rallying Democrat Voters,” (Andrea Zelinski, 06/04, TNReporter)

“Insight: From Alabama, en epic challenge to voting rights,” (Joan Biskupic, 06/04, Reuters)

“Heritage Foundation ‘Expert’ Cannot Cite Any Examples of Actual Voter Fraud,” (Josh Israel, 06/04, ThinkProgressJustice)

“Watch Out for Voter Registration Cancellations,” (Lise Olsen, 06/04, Houston Chronicle)

Twitter Trends

On the social media search engine Topsy.com, mentions of voting rights, voter ID and voter fraud are tied up with mentions of the Wisconsin recall election.

In particular, a tweet from progressive voting rights group EPWIsco has seen dozens of retweets this morning:

You DO NOT NEED ID to vote in WI tmrw. If you get asked, give us a call immediately @866OURVOTE#wirecall#wivote#voterid#votingrights

We’ll have our own tweets from the Wisconsin election Tuesday from reporters @AJVicens and @khantasha. Follow them and @WhoCanVote for more from the field.