Today, the federal appeals court held oral arguments in Jones v. DeSantis, a case determining the constitutionality of wealth-based obstacles to voting. "SB 7066 limits the number of poor people who are able to vote. It creates a pay-to-vote scheme that is anathema to our country’s values. The ability to participate in our democracy should never be conditioned on economic circumstances."

Represented by Covington & Burling LLP, Common Cause Florida today filed an amicus brief in Jones v. DeSantis, urging a federal appeals court to uphold a decision that concluded a Florida law that created wealth-based hurdles to voting is unconstitutional.

Our government is supposed to be ‘of the people, by the people, for the people’ -- but in the middle of a public health emergency, our government is now making it harder for ‘the people’ to have their voices heard.

Common Cause Florida, the League of Women Voters of Florida and 11 other groups today urged Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to veto SB 1794, a bill that would make it harder for citizens to propose amendment to the state constitution. “Our government is supposed to be ‘of the people, by the people, for the people’ and yet our Legislature is making it harder for the people to have their voices heard,” said Anjenys Gonzalez-Eilert, Executive Director of Common Cause Florida.

The groups’ letter identifies serious racial disparities in Early Voting access in Panama City, as well as other barriers to voting access for African-American and low-wealth voters, many of whom continue to face difficulties recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Michael, which made landfall as a Category 5 hurricane on October 10, 2018.