Great News: US court says Florida's early voting rules discriminatory
By Drew Singer
WASHINGTON, Aug 17 (Reuters) - New rules that reduce the number of early voting days in Florida are an unfair burden on minorities, a U.S. federal court said in a ruling that upheld the U.S. Justice Department's decision to block the changes in five of the state's 67 counties.
The Justice Department and civil rights groups had argued that a 2011 Florida law allowing counties to reduce the window for early voting from 96 hours per week to as few as 48 made it more difficult for minorities to vote than whites.
The federal government blocked the rules from taking effect in five counties -- Collier, Hendry, Osceola, Polk and Lee -- by invoking the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which allows it to veto voting rules changes in certain states and counties with histories of racial repression.
In its ruling late on Thursday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said in an unsigned opinion that Florida failed to prove its law didn't discriminate.
http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/08/17/usa-voting-florida-idINL2E8JH5U220120817
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