Florida Young Republicans Stand Behind New Voter Laws

'I think if you follow the legal means, it's such an easy process,' Florida State student Mia Simon tells MTV News
By Gil Kaufman

Mitt Romney
Photo: Emmanuel Dunand/ AFP/ Getty Images

JACKSONVILLE, Florida — There's a storm raging in Florida over new voter-registration laws that groups such as Rock the Vote claim make it harder for them to sign up new voters.

But ask Florida State University student and first-time voter Mia Simon, 19, about those laws, and the political science major will tell you that it's much ado about nothing.

"I have just turned in my forms to become a registered agent with the supervisor of elections, and that means I go through a legal process of handing out the voter registrations and handing them in myself to the supervisor," said Simon, who added that it is because of the changes to the voter-registration rules that she was inspired to become more involved with the process. "I think if you follow the legal means, it's such an easy process to fill them out and then you guarantee that they get to the supervisor of elections," the FSU College Republicans member said.

Rock the Vote and the League of Women Voters are among the third-party groups who have sued the state in an effort to get the law overturned. They've argued that new provisions that give their organizations just 48 hours to turn in registration forms, the shortening of the early voting period and threats of civil action should the forms not be filled out correctly amount to a breach of their constitutionally protected rights of speech and association even as they fail to give individuals and groups fair notice of how to comply with what they say are the laws' "confusing and unclear mandates."

Simon said she's had no problem turning the form in within 48 hours and has found the process "really easy" to follow. "I really think it makes it easier," she said. "As long as you follow the law, it's all great."

Considering that she said there are 3.5 million unregistered voters in the state, she is also inspired to get more young voters out to the polls this year and hopes the new laws do what their drafters intended: root out voter fraud. "America stands on the principle of one person, one vote, and this is something that we really need to uphold."

MTV is on the scene in Florida! Check back for up-to-the-minute coverage of the primaries and stick with PowerOf12.org throughout the 2012 presidential election season.

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1678190/florida-young-republicans-new-voter-laws.jhtml

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