Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
1401 New York Avenue, NW
Suite 400
Washington, DC 20005

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release
Contact: Diane Gross
202-662-8600

January 10, 2001

STATEMENT OF THE LAWYERS' COMMITTEE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS UNDER LAW ON FLORIDA VOTING RIGHTS LAWSUIT

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (Lawyers' Committee) joins with the NAACP, its Florida State Conference and other civil rights legal organizations in filing a voting rights lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Miami, Florida. This lawsuit stems from two months of investigations that began on November 7, 2000 when voters started registering complaints with the NAACP and many other civil rights organizations including the Lawyers' Committee. This class-action lawsuit is brought on behalf of the NAACP and 21 named plaintiffs against Katherine Harris, Secretary of State of Florida, Clay Roberts, Director of Florida Division of Elections, a number of county election supervisors and Choicepoint, Inc. It seeks to remedy the undemocratic and unfair electoral policies and practices that disenfranchised thousands of black voters in Florida.

Voters throughout Florida reported widespread problems with voting practices on election day. Through our investigation it has become painfully clear that it was black voters who were disproportionately impacted. It was black voters who had their constitutional right to vote - a fundamental principle of our democracy - violated. Florida, however, is not new to unfair and discriminatory practices impacting the ability of black voters to exercise their franchise.

In the ongoing effort to defend the rights of all voters to be the beneficiaries of an equal electoral process, the Lawyers' Committee and other civil rights groups have sued Florida countless times. These cases have involved redistricting, judicial elections, and the constitutionality of majority - minority districts. Most recently, the Lawyers' Committee and the Brennan Center for Justice have sued Governor Jeb Bush seeking to nullify Florida's laws disenfranchising those convicted of felonies.

After the mass disenfranchisement of voters that Americans witnessed on election day, it is imperative that we work to ensure extensive reform that will promote fairness and justice in the Florida electoral process.

This lawsuit brings to center stage the flaws in the way that Florida conducts its elections. The complaint paints a broad picture of the disparate impact of Florida's electoral system on black voters. The punch card violations are just the tip of the iceberg. There are many violations implicating both state and federal voting rights laws. The complaint addresses major countywide and statewide systemic voting practices which worked to disenfranchise black voters. Among those are practices which invalidate a disproportionate number of ballots cast by black voters, which purge voters from official lists, which fail to correctly process the voter registration applications of blacks, and which apply different standards to deny some registered voters the right to vote.

The remedy sought in this lawsuit strives to restore integrity to the electoral process in Florida. We have never sought to overturn the results of the election; our focus is on ensuring a central principle of our democracy - ­equal representation. We need to eliminate voting practices which result in the denial of the right of Florida citizens to vote on account of race, color or other discriminatory classification. To remedy the wrongs visited on the plaintiffs, the lawsuit demands that fair and non-discriminatory electoral procedures be put in place in the state of Florida. Specifically, the remedies include decertifying punch-card voting methods, adopting standards and implementing training to ensure that voting systems and procedures are equal, accurate, reliable and uniformly administered, restoring all persons wrongfully purged and discontinuing such purges until procedures ensure a uniform and non-discriminatory application of the law, developing and implementing training for all personnel involved in elections, and notification to voters about their rights at polling places.

These are the remedies that are essential to restoring the faith of black and other minority voters in our democracy. We are engaged in this legal action not only to vindicate the rights of the thousands of black voters who were denied their constitutional franchise in the 2000 elections but also to keep the promise of election reform alive for people all over our nation who had trouble voting and felt that their votes did not count on election day. The cries of those Americans must be heard for we do not want first time voters and future generations to be discouraged from exercising this critical constitutional right.

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