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ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) – Florida’s voter registration website was back up and running Sunday, hours after Democrats accused the state’s Republican Governor of voter suppression for taking it down for maintenance.
Early Sunday morning, the Florida voter registration website was offline.
“Governor Ron DeSantis knows that the Florida Democratic party’s strategy of registering and turning voters will lead to victory in 2020,” said Terry Rizzo, Chairman of the Florida Democratic party. “The closure of the online voter registration site for ‘maintenance’ as we kick off our largest voter registration week is the latest act of voter suppression from a Governor who has doubled down on voter suppression tactics during his short tenure.”
A spokesman for the Agency that oversees Florida elections said in an email that any suggestion that the site was taken down for anything other than maintenance is false. Service began Friday night and advance notice was posted on the site, says Sarah Revell, a spokeswoman for the Florida state Department.
“Regular maintenance helps improve security on the site and will also help ensure the site is able to handle the expected increase in traffic on national voter registration day on Tuesday,” Revell said in an email.
Voter-suppression claims have also been made against Republicans in Florida over a constitutional amendment voters approved last year that would make it easier for convicted felons to regain the right to vote.
Republican lawmakers, in drafting legislation to implement the amendment, said its language on criminals having to complete “all terms of their sentence, including parole or probation” also means paying all court costs, fines and restitution before being eligible to vote. Opponents described the requirement as a” voting tax ” designed to deter criminals from registering to vote.
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