And with this article – Voter ID laws have caused significant drop in Democratic registration in Florida – the media conveniently but inappropriately blames voter integrity measures, particularly voter ID. Of course, this is far from the truth. In fact, a photo ID requirement at the polls is nothing new in Florida.
The Florida Times-Union set out the statistics of the steep cliff for Democrats in a presidential year: During the 13 months beginning July 1 the year before elections in 2004 and 2008, registered Democrats increased by an average of 209,425 voters. From 2011 to this year, that number was 11,365. In Duval County alone there were about 13,000 new Democrats, meaning the rest of the state lost them. Over that same time, the number of registered Republicans increased by 128,039, topping the average of 103,555 during the past two presidential cycles.