Jack Latvala Blows Off Voter Reform

In what is a shock to no one who wants voter reform in Florida. Sen. Jack Latvala, (R-Clearwater) chair of the Florida Senate’s Ethics and Elections committee, latvala-senates-elections-bill-temporarily-postponed/has postponed a bill for online voter registration. The bill would also clarify what sites could be used to drop off absentee ballots. Latvala told TBO.com that he " didn’t want to deal with it today." What an inspiring work ethic from the Senator.

Latvala was vague on when the bill would come up again.

“When you see it on the calendar again, it’ll be coming back,” he said after the meeting. “I’m just not sure what we’re doing with that yet.”

Don't hold your breath on this bill coming before the Ethics and Elections committee again. Republicans have been fighting against online voter registration since the early "Rock the Vote" days. Republicans have fought against being able to register to vote when you get your driver's licence or state ID. Republicans are trying to keep young and poor people from voting. Remember Florida State Sen. Mike Bennett's bizarre and racially tinged rant that voting should be made harder.

“Do you read the stories about the people in Africa? The people in the desert, who literally walk two and three hundred miles so they can have the opportunity to do what we do, and we want to make it more convenient? How much more convenient do you want to make it?” he said. “Do we want to go to their house? Take the polling booth with us?”

“This is a hard-fought privilege,” he added. “This is something people die for. You want to make it convenient? The guy who died to give you that right, it was not convenient. Why would we make it any easier? I want ‘em to fight for it. I want ‘em to know what it’s like. I want them to go down there, and have to walk across town to go over and vote,” he said.

Gov. Rick Scott shorten early voting in 2012. Here is Lawrence Fishburne visiting voters standing in an outrageously long voting line in Florida. How exactly did these long lines stop voter fraud?