Judge Mandates Noncitizens Can Handle Voter Registrations for 3rd Parties

A federal judge has struck down a portion of a recently changed Florida election law barring noncitizens from handling voter registrations for third-party groups.

We wouldn’t want Venezuelan gangs or MS-13, for example, to be deprived of their rights to register other cartel members. That’s just a possibility.

SB 7050, passed in 2023, instituted a $50,000 fine for the organizations if they violate the noncitizen provision.

The ruling was issued by Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker Wednesday in a case involving multiple activist groups, including the League of Women Voters, NAACP, Hispanic Federation, and Poder Latinx against the state.

He ruled that the law’s provision violates the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Florida will appeal the decision. They appealed this injunction once before.

“The Citizenship Requirement unconstitutionally discriminates against noncitizens on its face,” Walker wrote.

Walker pointed to the plaintiffs’ “rights to equal protection under the law.”  He reiterated that the provision “facially discriminates based on alienage.”

Walker has a history.

In January 2018, Walker ruled against Florida and ordered Florida Governor Rick Scott to restore felons’ voting rights after their release from prison.

Walker invalidated Florida’s total prohibition on early voting sites on college and university campuses as unconstitutional in July 2018.

In September 2018, Walker decided another significant voting rights case. he granted a preliminary injunction against the Florida secretary of state, directing him to ensure that Spanish-speaking voters had access to ballots in Spanish for the November 2018 elections.

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