Bill Nelson Warns Rick Scott to Veto Election Bill or Face a Federal Investigation

By Michael Cohen Fri., May 6 2011 at 8:37 AM

State lawmakers want to keep people from having sex with animals. U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson wants to keep lawmakers from screwing voters.

Although it seems like Gov. Rick Scott will make the bold and progressive move of banning bestiality, he still plans to screw voters. The election overhaul bill, which many see as backdoor disenfranchisement, cruised through the Legislature and now awaits the governor's signature. Throughout the legislative session, Scott not only supported the bill verbally but also led by example as he and his Cabinet brought back Jim Crow-style voting laws.

Well, it's about time that someone reminded Capo Scott about the Voting Rights Act, which was meant to ensure every citizen's right to vote by protecting them from states that exploited loopholes in the 15th Amendment. Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act requires federal preclearance of any election law that could discriminate against minority voters. Section 5 covers five counties in Florida.

The NAACP and ACLU have already asked the Justice Department to investigate Florida's potential violation of the Voting Rights Act. Now, finally, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson has done the same.

Nelson railed against the bill all week and barely acknowledged the feckless castigation that followed his remark about Osama Bin Laden's death. After both chambers of the Legislature approved the bill yesterday, Nelson admonished Scott in a letter in which he threatened to seek a federal investigation if Scott signs the bill into law.

In the letter, Nelson wrote:

Please veto the election legislation the Florida Legislature just passed. No doubt you've seen the many criticisms, especially that it would significantly reduce the number of early-voting days. Because Florida has five counties needing federal approval in the event of major changes in election procedures, I have asked the U.S. Department of justice for an investigation if this bill becomes law.

There are just too many questions about whether this measure would disenfranchise an untold number of Floridians. I remain convinced it is bad for our democratic process.
Thank you for considering these concerns.

For some reason, I don't think Scott is shaking in his alligator boots. State lawmakers don't seem to fear the feds much either. So far, they've only expressed paranoia-fueled, delusional fears about federal health-care reform. Why else do you think pro-gun and anti-abortion legislation ate up so much of the session?

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Tags:

bestiality, Bill Nelson, disenfranchise, election, felons, Jim Crow, Osama bin Laden, Rick Scott, voting

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Hermann341

Jim Crow voting laws? I guess this new law will match the Jim Crow drivers license law, the Jim Crow check cashing law, the Jim Crow aircraft boarding law, and the Jim Crow alcohol purchase law.

ZegWee

LOL, Rick Scott is an idiot. Another bought and paid for politician only looking out for his own interests.

www.totally-anon.at.tc

LittleGiant

Whew. Passage of the bestiality law will add peace to my sleep.

Jobs? What jobs? So far we should have added close to 60K jobs from the 700,000. He's killing me. Why are, by far, the funniest state in the nation.

LittleGiant

I want him to sign it. I want to seem in the Fed's scope and then sit back, relax, and listen to the reasoning. It should be quite entertaining.

Steve

The bill is an obvious violation of the Voting Rights Act. The required pre-clearance was neither sought nor obtained. I won't take much of a lawyer to convince a federal judge to enjoin the new Florida statute, at least until arguments can be heard.

The majority simply does not have the power to suppress the votes of any minority.

FQS9000

Boo Hoo. There has been NO racial voter discrimination in Florida for many years. Grow up Democrats. Try running a campaign on something other than giving money to those who really really don't want to have to work for it. Then you won't have to pander to criminals, the greedy, the stupid, the illegal and the lazy.

Go Ricky!!!

Hu Flung Poo

It would seem to be obvious thatvoter's rights should be uniform across the United States. TheVoter's Rights Act sections which apply differentially to the variousstates are, in the year 2011, a joke. Perhaps for a couple of decadesfrom the inception of the legislation, I could buy it. But in thenearly 50 years since the Act was passed there has been a little bitof change going on. I migrated to FL 3 years ago from Atlanta, whereI had lived for 10 years, having lived nearly 40 years prior to thatin Wisconsin. The State of Florida is predominantly folks who wereborn somewhere else. The people who were behind whatever votingrights violations existed in the 1960s are, for the most part, deadand buried by now and the evils that the legislation was aimed athave been eliminated, or at least dissipated to the point of notbeing recognizable in 2011. The population of this state, and ofstates like Georgia is very dynamic over time – these are not,byany means the people who were utilizing Jim Crow laws in the 1940'sand 1950's. Why should select southern states and their citizens in2011 be subject to special scrutiny and process administered from theJustice Department in D.C.? Doesn't the concept of “Equal JusticeUnder the Law”, chiseled into the Justice Department HQ, at somepoint mean that you cannot continue to treat some states, and thustheir voters and citizens, differently than other states, based onsome very remote history?

Bill Nelson is full of it on thisissue. And he is going down in next year's election.

Braszman

I give up. Our state is run by self-righteous morons. It is no solace to me that I did not vote for them. I don't know why we need bestiality legislation when the world is supposed to end next week.

Braszman

So we get an election bill to strip away voter rights and bring on Federal lawsuits (and guess who pays for both the Feds prosecutors and the State of Florida's defense attorneys? -WE DO!!!) Plus as a bonus, we get a bestiality bill - legislation sure to waste even more of Florida's dwindling resources. Good going Florida Legislature!! Where are the jobs!!! The Republican Party campaigned on jobs and the economy in 2010. What have you done to bring people and businesses to Florida? No one in their right mind would move their employees here at this point! That's going to do wonders for our property values. Curtailing civil liberties, picking workers pockets with money grabs and flooding the docket with insane legislation like bestiality laws was not your mandate. Thank you for ensuring that President Obama will win Florida again in 2012. I did not think it was possible a year ago but you have done so little good and so much harm in 4 months that even the folks that voted you in are scratching their heads in disbelief. Lets get to work my aching prostate!! Here's a headline: "Florida creates 67 new bestiality positions." I guess those will be the new jobs that the Governor was talking about.

Richardwinger

The press in Florida has failed to tell readers that the bill also disenfranchises voters who might want to vote for a new party's presidential candidate.

Sharonmunley

Whis is suprised? The voters elected a criminal. Pretty soon only the rich will be able to vote.

SMDrPepper

Insanity. Shouldnt the voters be allowed to have THEIR say?

Joe Ingel

Voters did have their say. They spoke loud and clear when they answered the call for change by turning the Republican's simple majority in the Florida house into an undefeatable super-majority and voting an inexperienced, heavy-handed conservative into the govenor's mansion.