DeSantis administration loses battle over new Florida election law as judge issues preliminary injunction

Third-party voter registration groups in Florida scored a major legal win Monday, according to a published report.

A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction against a provision of a sweeping new Florida elections law that put restrictions on third-party voter registration groups, Florida Politics reports.

Republicans argued that the provision promotes election integrity, but the measure was opposed by groups including the League of Women Voters of Jacksonville and the Northside Coalition, who claimed it was a barrier to election participation, WJXT reports.

A coalition of groups that includes the Florida State Conference of Branches and Youth Units of the NAACP, Equal Ground Education Fund, and Voters of Tomorrow filed a lawsuit seeking a preliminary injunction, and Judge Mark Walker of the Northern District of Florida ruled in their favor.

The judge’s order targets specific provision of SB 7050 including “barring non-citizens from registering to vote,” and “exposing individuals working for third-party registration organizations to felony prosecution for retaining voter information without telling them to whom the prohibition applies, what they can retain, and when they can retain it,” the report said.

“The Free State of Florida is simply not free to exceed the boundaries of the U.S. Constitution,” Walker writes.

The defendants in the case are identified as Secretary of State Cord Byrd, Attorney General Ashley Moody, and the state’s Supervisors of Elections.

They argued for deferring the rule until September, but Walker rejected their argument according to the report.

“Removing the threat of enforcement — the risk of a $50,000 fine, automatic cancellation of the 3PVROs’ registrations, and further civil enforcement by the Attorney General — would directly redress Plaintiffs’ injuries. In other words, they could continue the voter registration work that they have been hired to do, without fear of Defendants penalizing their organizations with devastating fines, automatic cancellation of their registrations, and other civil enforcement actions,” Walker said.

SB 7050 is mostly known for modifying the state’s “resign to run” law to allow Gov. Ron DeSantis to run for president, which was not addressed in the filing or the judge’s ruling.

Read the full article here.