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For Immediate Release
Contact: Email:,press@repairourdemocracy.org

How the For the People Act Blunts New Florida Voting Restrictions

WASHINGTON
Yesterday, the Republican-controlled legislature in Florida passed a host of new voting restrictions in a brazen attempt to keep tens of thousands of Floridians from participating in future elections.
This is the latest attempt by the Republican Party to restrict voting in a key battleground state, with The New York Times reporting that the new law would:
  • Limit the use of drop boxes
  • Add more identification requirements for those requesting absentee ballots
  • Require voters to request an absentee ballot for each election, rather than receive them automatically through an absentee voting list
  • Limit who could collect and drop off ballots
  • Further empower partisan observers during the ballot-counting process
With the bill heading to Gov. Ron DeSantis' desk, Common Cause's Stephen Spaulding laid out how the For the People Act (H.R. 1 // S. 1) would blunt the new bill (see his four points here).
Here are some of the provisions within the For the People Act that would nullify many of these voter restrictions being pushed by Republicans through state legislatures across the country:
  • Requiring at least 15 consecutive days of early voting
  • Ensuring that early voting sites are open for at least 10 hours each day
  • Requiring states to allow any eligible voter to cast their ballots by mail in federal elections standardizing no-excuse absentee voting nationwide
  • Allowing voters to apply to vote by mail once and permitting them to carry over that request to future elections
  • Requiring one secure absentee ballot dropbox per 20,000 residents
  • Establishing automatic voter registration and same-day registration nationwide
  • Requiring every state to create online systems where Americans can register to vote, update their registration information, and request their absentee ballots

Repair Our Democracy, a project of Democracy 21, is focused on defending the For the People Act against bad-faith attacks and outright lies.