Friday, January 27, 2012

1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.

The Hillsborough County Courthouse in Downtown Tampa

 800 Twiggs Street 

Tampa, FL  33600

 

The U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights will hold a field hearing on January 27, 2012 on Florida's new voting law which makes a number of changes, including:
 

• reducing the number of voting days, and 
• making it harder for groups to help register voters 

The sub-committee chairman, U. S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) has sent a letter to Gov. Rick Scott asking him to appear. "For more than half of the life of our Republic, a majority of Americans were not allowed to vote. Fortunately, we learned from these mistakes and expanded the franchise and reach of our democracy though six constitutional amendments, " Durbin said. "Worryingly, a spate of recently passed state voting laws seemed designed to restrict voting by making it harder for millions of disabled, young, minority, rural, elderly, homeless, and low income Americans to vote. Protecting the right of every citizen to vote and ensuring that our elections are fair and transparent are not Democratic or Republican values, they are American values, " Durbin said. 

Please RSVP to LWVSPA Office lwvspa@verizon.net or (727) 896-5197, as Senator Nelson's office is holding some reserved seating for League members.

League members are asked to attend and wear LWV buttons, and not to speak at the hearing on behalf of the League.
 
Please note: Due to the sensitivities of the LWVF current lawsuit concerning this law, please refer any media inquiries to LWVF President Deirdre Macnab or LWVF Executive Director Jessica Lowe-Minor lwvfexecutivedirector@gmail.com or (850) 224-2545. Thanks for your support and cooperation on this important point.