Florida’s election laws do not discriminate against black voters, a federal appeals court found in a Thursday decision that reversed a lower court ruling.
A handful of civil rights groups, including the NAACP and League of Women Voters of Florida, sued the state in 2021 after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed new election laws, which restricted the use of ballot drop boxes, stopped the solicitation of voters in line at the polls and limited third-party organizations from delivering voter registration forms. The 11th Circuit’s 2-1 Thursday decision eviscerated the lower court’s logic, saying it relied on “fatally flawed statistical analysis” and “flimsy evidence.”
“The district court relied on fatally flawed statistical analyses, out-of-context statements by individual legislators, and legal premises that do not follow our precedents,” Chief Judge William Pryor wrote in the court’s opinion. The lower court relied on evidence of historical discrimination in Florida, but Proyer notes that “more recent history does not support a finding of discriminatory intent.”— Legal Defense Fund (@NAACP_LDF) April 27, 2023
The 11th Circuit issued a decision in our challenge to Florida's anti-voting law, allowing most of the discriminatory provisions.
This is a deeply disappointing decision, but we are continuing litigation to protect access to the ballot for Floridians. https://t.co/F8lU1bPXay