Report: New Florida laws hurt minority vote

Early voters wait in line to vote in the presidential election on the first day of early voting at a polling station setup at the City of Miami City Hall on October 27, 2012 in Miami, Florida. / Joe Raedle/Getty Images

ORLANDO, Fla. A new reports shows changes in Florida's voting laws disproportionately affected minority voters during campaign 2012, CBS Radio News correspondent Peter King reports.

The University of Florida report says the cutback of early voting days disproportionately affected African Americans, who tend to vote early. Politics professor Daniel Smith says that led to long lines "disproportionately filled with racial and ethnic minorities" on Election Day.

Attorney Lee Rowland of New York University's Brennan Center for Justice also thought the new law was more political than practical.

"The incredibly long lines we saw in Florida were part of the legacy of the movement to restrict voting," she said.

• Presidential election decided, but Florida left behind

Rowland says Florida lawmakers now have the chance to turn the page. "The Florida legislature's actions didn't just harm the voters of Florida, but distinctly made Florida a national laughing stock," she said.

Republican Gov. Rick Scott originally defended the GOP-backed law, but lines on Election Day gave ammunition to critics and comedians.

Now, Scott says he wants to restore those early voting days. He also wants more flexibility and a shorter ballot, which is what his opponents have demanded all along.

[David Hoffman100]

In trying to save money by cutting early voting days Florida failed. You can reduce the overall calender days that early voting uses, but you must significantly increase the number of hours each day those early voting stations are open if you are to avoid excessively long lines. It is also going to become necessary, although unorthodox in the USA, for the early voting stations to be open for half day or full day operations on the Saturday and Sunday before the Tuesday regularly scheduled election date. The "souls to the polls" on Sunday concept will move beyond its traditional base in the African American community and more religious institutions will utilize Sunday voting to reduce the demands for voter transportation assistance on the traditional Tuesday election day. It is a lot easier to transport people needing assistance when you have maybe a hundred vehicles available on Saturday or Sunday than only a dozen vehicles during a weekday.

We are going to have to implement these concepts in my state of Georgia also if we are to reduce excessively long voting lines.

[boforillo]

Unless you are a member of congress!