The chairman of a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee panel that oversees voting will hold a field hearing on new Florida voting laws that Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla. has suggested are the result of a coordinated effort to suppress voter turnout among millions of seniors, young people and minorities in next year’s presidential election.
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., wrote Nelson a letter Tuesday saying he'd head to Florida for a hearing on the new voting rules, signed into law in May by Republican Gov. Rick Scott. The new law curtails the number of early voting days in Florida from 15 to eight. The law also makes it more difficult for third-party groups, such as the League of Women voters, to register voters.
"I agree with you that regardless of its stated intention, Florida's new voting law will almost certainly disenfranchise a wide swath of the states young, minority, senior, disabled, rural, and low income voters," Durbin said in his letter.
Nelson has repeatedly pointed out that the new, stricter voting laws are in states that make up two-thirds of the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency. That includes Florida, where his own re-election -- and the presidential contest -- will mark the first major test of the new laws in Florida.
Nelson also has asked the Justice Department to investigate the new laws. No date has been set yet for Durbin's hearing.
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