Letter to Charles Joseph Crist, Jr., Governor of Florida, Re: Blocking of Fed Study of Seniors Access to Voting Booth

Letter

Letter to Charles Joseph Crist, Jr., Governor of Florida, Re: Blocking of Fed Study of Seniors Access to Voting Booth

Senator questions Florida's blocking of fed study of seniors access to voting booth

The U.S. Senate is trying to make sure Florida is honoring the voting rights of seniors and people with disabilities, but state officials are blocking visits by congressional researchers at randomly selected polling places on Election Day next month.

And, in a letter today to Gov. Charlie Crist, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson wants to know why.

"Given that Floridians have seen their share of election shenanigans," Nelson wrote, "why would state officials reject attempts by Congress to make sure the polling places have proper access for seniors and people with disabilities?"

Nelson asked Crist to direct his appointed secretary of state, who oversees elections in Florida, to let the U.S. Government Accountability Office ( GAO ) visit polling sites in four counties. The GAO is working on a congressionally mandated study of whether the polls in Florida and other states are fully accessible.

Besides Florida, the GAO wants to study a randomly selected sample of 30 states. Each of the 30 already have agreed to be part of the study, according to the GAO, the nonpartisan investigative arm of Congress.

But Florida Secretary of State Kurt Browning, Crist's appointee, is citing a Florida law that says no one can enter a polling place other than official poll watchers or deputies to the local supervisors of election.

The study in question was sought earlier this year by the Senate Select Committee on Aging, on which Nelson sits. The committee asked the GAO in February to update a report it did during the 2000 elections in which it found only 16 percent of the polling sites nationwide were fully accessible to people with disabilities.

Because Florida participated in the 2000 study, the GAO requested access to the state's polls again on this Election Day. The request came last August in a letter to Florida's secretary of state, Browning, from Barbara D. Bovbjerg, a GAO director.

"We plan to visit at least 3 polling places in each of the counties in the sample but could visit up to 8, depending upon time constraints," Bovbjerg wrote. "We realize that you and other election officials are extremely busy in preparing for the general election on November 4, 2008 and appreciate the cooperation of your state in our study."

The Senate's Committee on Aging asked for the study after hearing testimony earlier this year that raised concerns that obstacles such as ballot design and poll-site accessibility possibly could disenfranchise older voters and those with a disability.

This isn't the first time Nelson has gotten involved in voting issues. Last year, he fought to count Florida's primary election, going as far as suing DNC Chair Howard Dean. In June of this year, Nelson introduced legislation that would overhaul the way we elect the president, including doing away with the Electoral College and creating a system of rotating regional primaries. More information on Nelson's election reform legislation can be found here.

Following is the text of Nelson's letter:

Dear Gov. Crist:

As a member of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Aging, I write you today to request your immediate assistance in resolving an important Election Day issue.

In February, the Committee on Aging requested that the Government Accountability Office ( GAO ) conduct a nationwide study examining voting access for people with disabilities, including senior citizens, during the November general election. This study would be an update to a similar study of polling places conducted during the 2000 election. Florida participated in the 2000 study and granted GAO researchers access to polling places in four Florida counties.

To ensure the integrity of the updated report, GAO has requested that the Florida secretary of state allow federal researchers to observe and measure voting access for senior citizens and the disabled during the Nov. 4 election. Four counties in Florida were selected for this study: Miami-Dade, Broward, Pinellas, and Hillsborough. Florida so far has denied GAO researchers access to the polling places.

Meantime, 30 other states are cooperating with the GAO study.

With the second-largest senior citizen population in the United States, it is imperative that we ensure our seniors have unfettered access to polling places on Election Day. Given that Floridians have seen their share of election shenanigans, why would state officials reject attempts by Congress to make sure the polling places have proper access for seniors and people with disabilities?

It would seem to me that you would want GAO researchers to have minimum access to polling places on Election Day. I hope you can do this, as it involves the integrity of our elections in Florida.

Sincerely,

Bill Nelson

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