With the election looming, a judge urged Friday a quick
trial for a lawsuit against Florida's largest counties over the
rejection of more than 10,000 voter registration forms that elections
officials say were improperly filled out. A Miami lawsuit is
challenging the process that lets counties disqualify people who
provided a signature affirming their eligibility to vote but failed to
list an identification number, such as from a driver's license, or
check boxes affirming they were citizens, were mentally competent and
were not felons. U.S. District Judge James Lawrence King noted a tight
time frame before the Nov. 2 election made it essential to move
quickly, but did not immediately set a trial date. A coalition of
unions filed the suit against Secretary of State Glenda Hood and
election supervisors in Duval, Orange, Palm Beach, Broward and
Miami-Dade counties. In Duval County, nearly 45 percent of the
challenged forms came from blacks who want to vote. The Advancement
Project, a Washington-based social action group that helped file the
lawsuit, claimed that the voter registration practices had a disparate
effect on minorities. [more ]
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