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Nelson Asks for Justice Department Review of State Elections Directive December 5, 2013 | WMFE - U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson says a new directive from Florida's secretary of state is the latest in a long pattern of voter suppression. The Central Florida Democrat sent a letter Thursday to Attorney General Eric Holder requesting a review of the directive. The directive orders elections supervisors to accept absentee ballots only at their offices and not remote locations. Nelson says the directive is an attempt to suppress voting in a Republican congressional primary election next month in Pinellas County. "Given the history of voting problems in the state in 2000 and again 2012 it's fairly clear that we ought to be concerned." Elections supervisors statewide are protesting the directive. Orange County Supervisor of Elections Bill Cowles, a Democrat, says he wouldn't follow the directive if an election was scheduled here soon. "There is a pattern here in the changes coming from the Legislature, from the directives from the secretary of state. It is politics at play here in these elections." Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner's office issued a statement that the secretary wants, "100 percent of voters to vote and zero percent fraud." |
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