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Congratulations: your disenfranchisement is protecting the integrity of Florida’s elections!

The pattern is unmistakable and indefensible: Florida does its best to discourage certain groups from voting. Here’s another example:

The sign that Pasco election officials stick in grass outside polling places reads, "Photo and Signature Identification Required."

It might seem straightforward - state law says voters are required to show their ID before casting their ballot. But some activists say such language is a deceptive shorthand for the law and could prevent people from voting.

"Voters were turned away because of signs like this in 2000," said Courtenay C. Strickland, director of the voting rights project at the ACLU of Florida. "Those are misleading and can result in disenfranchisement."

The group recently wrote the state's elections supervisors, asking them to display signs - and arm poll workers - with information that more accurately reflects state voter-identification laws. While the statutes require photo and signature identification, generally they also allow people without such ID to vote after signing an affidavit.
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"The misinterpretation of "ID Required' signs by both poll workers and voters alike, who took such polling place signs to be complete statements of Florida law rather than the misstatements that they are, led to lost votes in the November 2000 election and more recently in 2003," Strickland and Howard Simon, the ACLU's executive director, wrote to county elections supervisors following the March presidential primary. The letter was referring to complaints about signs in Lee County.

"The surest way to prevent such unnecessary disenfranchisement in 2004 is to refrain from the posting of such signs whenever possible, (and) to train poll workers in the affidavit process ..."

And the excuse for this barrier? Why, the powers that be are simply striving to help the citizens of Florida by putting on the best darn election ever:

"We tried to explain we're not trying to disenfranchise voters," Harrington said. "We're trying to protect the integrity of the elections."

Because an election in a democratic society in which every eligible voter was allowed to vote would be completely lacking in integrity. Now, let's ignore that issue and segue right into some good old-fashioned intimidation of black voters.

A voter rights group is accusing state investigators of intimidating elderly black voters while looking into possible ballot fraud in the disputed Orlando mayoral race.

Buddy Dyer's re-election March 9 has been dogged by accusations of fraud.

The Voter Protection Coalition said Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents, while contacting people whose absentee ballots are being questioned, revealed their side arms, spokeswoman Alma Gonzalez said Friday.

``You can't do that to old black people who fought hard for the right to vote and, in fact, have seen law enforcement utilized in this kind of intimidating and harassing way through the civil rights movement,'' Gonzalez said.