Resolution 2003-04

Concerning the Help America Vote Act.

WHEREAS, the Congress of the United States passed the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), which, among other things, guarantees the right of every voter to cast a private, independent, and verifiable ballot, in every precinct in the country; and

WHEREAS, HAVE provides substantial federal assistance to the states which implement HAVA; and

WHEREAS, in a truly baffling move, the Florida Legislature has thus far declined to amend Florida law to bring it into compliance with HAVA and, in particular, has failed to implement the measures guaranteeing an independent ballot to blind voters; and

WHEREAS, the legislature’s decision, if not reversed, will cost Florida $100 million in federal dollars, which will not be available to the state due to its lack of compliance with HAVA; and

WHEREAS, HAVA applies to every precinct in Florida, whether the federal money is or is not received; and

WHERAS, the result of the legislature’s refusal to implement HAVA will be that the burden of that $100 million compliance cost will fall heavily and exclusively on the already hard-pressed Florida taxpayer; and

WHEREAS, compliance with HAVA is the law, it is right, and it is cost-effective for the taxpayers of Florida: Now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind of Florida, in Convention assembled, this twenty-sixth day of May, 2003, in the city of St. Petersburg, Florida, that this organization demand that the Florida Legislature vote quickly and happily to implement federal law, so that blind voters can vote privately and independently, and so that this important goal can be achieved with federal money.