AG Racine & AG James Lead a Coalition of 17 Attorneys General Opposing Florida's Restrictive Voting Law

Coalition Files Amicus Brief to Protect Mail-In, Drop Box Voting

WASHINGTON, D.C. – District of Columbia Attorney General Karl A. Racine and New York Attorney General Letitia James co-led a group of 17 attorneys general in a friend-of-the court brief in three cases opposing Florida’s discriminatory law that would make it more difficult for millions of Floridians—especially the elderly, disabled, and communities of color—to vote. 

In the brief, the group of attorneys general explain that Florida’s law, SB 90, markedly decreases voting opportunities by restricting access to mail-in voting and the use of drop boxes for ballot collection. Florida contends that these restrictions are justified in the name of preventing voter fraud and increasing voter confidence, but the brief draws on the experiences of other states to demonstrate that election security can be protected while increasing—not limiting—access to the ballot.

“Florida’s discriminatory law is another attempt to make it harder for some in the state to vote, especially voters of color,” said AG Racine. “The myth of voter fraud has been debunked countless times, yet we continue to see states creating laws based on false claims to uphold this lie for political reasons. In reality, these election laws that supposedly prevent and eliminate voter fraud instead simply encourage voter suppression. Not only that, Black and brown communities, as well as low-income communities and the elderly and disabled, are disproportionately affected. It is crucial that we as attorneys general continue to join together to help protect the sacred right to vote.”

In the brief, the coalition argues that: 

  • Mail-in voting and the use of drop boxes are well-established practices in Florida and around the country, and neither has given rise to substantial fraud: Absentee voting is nothing new and is not a major driver of fraud. From 2000 until the 2020 election, more than 250 million votes were cast using mail-in ballots in all fifty states. And an additional 66 million voters cast their ballots this way in the 2020 general election. Yet despite this historic increase, states were able to put in place—or had already implemented—adequate systems to ensure election integrity. That was certainly true in Florida, where state leaders hailed the efficiency and security of the election despite a 78% increase in the number of mail-in votes compared with the 2016 general election. There is no justification for Florida to now take steps to limit mail-in voting and the use of ballot drop boxes.
     
  • States have a multitude of ways to protect election integrity without stripping voters of reliable and safe voting methods: There are many standard ways that states—including Florida—can and do protect absentee ballots, however they are returned. For example, many states require mail-in-ballot envelopes to contain unique bar codes, which enables election officials to accurately track ballot processing. There are also proven methods to ensure the security of drop boxes in particular, many of which Florida already employed before SB 90. Additionally, criminal and civil penalties provide a strong deterrent to voter fraud: an individual convicted of voter fraud in a federal election is subject to a $10,000 fine and up to a five-year term of imprisonment. And many states—including Florida—also punish voter fraud with hefty fines and potential prison time under state law. 
     
  • Voter confidence is a complex issue, which SB 90 does not actually address: Voter confidence encompasses beliefs about a range of issues, from how democratic a system is in general to how fair specific election practices are. Yet Florida never explains what it means by “voter confidence,” how SB 90’s specific measures will improve voter confidence, or what evidence supports the alleged issue with voter confidence in the state. Indeed, by most measures, voter confidence—nationally and in Florida in particular—is quite high. SB 90 also does not target any of the known drivers of confidence and, if anything, is likely to impair confidence by making it more difficult to vote.

A copy of OAG's League of Women Voters as-filed amicus brief is available here.

A copy of OAG's NAACP as-filed amicus brief is available here.

A copy of OAG's Florida Rising as-filed amicus brief is available here.

AGs Racine and James led the amicus brief and were joined by Attorneys General from California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington. 

Background  

AG Racine has worked to defend the voices of District voters and American voters nationwide. He led multi-state coalitions opposing unfair voting restrictions against returning citizens in Florida, North Carolina, and Minnesota. In the lead up the 2020 election, AG Racine spearheaded coalitions to protect voting access in Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina, and two Texas cases, and defend deadline extensions for mail-in ballots in Minnesota and North Carolina. He also led a coalition of 23 attorneys general opposing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s baseless effort to invalidate the results of the 2020 election, and secured a preliminary injunction stopping U.S. Postal Service cuts that threatened the right to vote for millions of Americans planning to vote by mail during the pandemic. In August 2021, AG Racine and AG James led a coalition of 22 attorneys general in opposing Georgia’s discriminatory voting law. And in September 2021, AG Racine and AG James co-authored an op-ed that appeared in Crooked Media about continuing to stand up for the right to vote.