The Sun Sentinel reports as the most recent Florida elections legislation winds through the Legislature on its way to Governor Scott. The changes would require third-party registration groups to turn in registration applications within 48 hours of receipt or face fines.  This legislation is in response to the influx of bogus registrations that unncessarily waste election administration resources.  The legislation also tries to prevent the submission of applications by these organization days past the registration deadlines by threat of penalties. 

From the Sun Sentinel:  Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, R-Miami, the sponsor of the bill, said it’s “about making every vote count” and rooting out fraud.  “The fact is there’s a lot of bad actors out there and there’s an opportunity currently to game the system,” he said.

Third-party registration groups such as ACORN and the League of Women Voters have long complained about these common sense regulatory requirements arguing it is an infringement on their right to free speech.  However, they ignore the legitimate election administration concerns about the often repeated scenario where completed registration applications are submitted to election officials after the registration deadline despite being fully completed by the registrant well in advance of the election. Such recklessness causes voters to be disenfranchised from participating in elections through absolutely no fault of their own.  Despite the importance of these registrations, some voter groups will hold onto the applications unncessarily long, simply to avoid making multiple trips to election offices or to copy the personal identifying information of the applicant for the organizations’ future political purposes.  The right of the citizen to become legitimately registered after they have placed their right to vote in the hands of these groups should outweigh any convenience the registration group might receive by holding onto the applications and waiting until they unilaterally decide the time is ripe to submit these forms to officials.