Jason Garcia Orlando Sentinel Tallahassee Bureau
January 19, 2006
TALLAHASSEE -- First there was "Motor Voter," a law that allows people to register to vote when they get their drivers license.
Now get ready for "Shooter Voter."
At the request of the National Rifle Association, Florida lawmakers will consider a proposal that would allow people who are getting hunting, fishing and trapping licenses or permits to register to vote at the same time.
Backers say the idea is simply another way to make it easier for people to participate in democracy.
"The bottom line is convenience: to make it more convenient for working men and women to register to vote," said Marion Hammer, a lobbyist for the NRA.
But others think the Republican-controlled Legislature's real aim is to sign up more GOP-friendly voters before Election Day. After all, pollsters say, hunters and anglers are much more likely to support Republican candidates.
The measure, which the House Ethics and Elections Committee will take up next week, would become law just months before Florida voters go to the polls to elect a successor to Gov. Jeb Bush, replace at least two members of the state Cabinet and decide a U.S. Senate seat.
About 2.3 million people purchased sports licenses or permits in Florida last year, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
"It's rather transparent as to what they're trying to do," said House Minority Leader Chris Smith, D-Fort Lauderdale.
The legislation (HB 125 and SB 208) is nearly identical to a law that the Georgia General Assembly passed two years ago, when it was dubbed the "Shooter Voter" bill. It is modeled after the federal National Voter Registration Act -- commonly known as the Motor Voter Act -- which requires states to let people register to vote by mail or when they renew their drivers license or apply for welfare or disability benefits.
Under the Florida proposal, any place people can buy fishing, hunting or trapping licenses and permits would double as a voter-registration site. A store that did not offer a customer the chance to register could be slapped with fines as high as $2,500.
Fish and Wildlife officials say about 680 businesses throughout the state -- from Wal-Mart and Sports Authority to riverside bait-and-tackle shops -- sell permits and licenses, along with about 250 local tax-collector offices. Hammer, the NRA lobbyist, said people who buy licenses by telephone or online also would be offered the chance to register.
The idea surfaced in Tallahassee last year as an amendment offered by Rep. Will Kendrick, a conservative, pro-gun Democrat from Carrabelle, in the Panhandle. But Republicans embraced the concept this year.
The sponsors in the House and Senate -- Rep. Greg Evers, a Panhandle farmer from Baker, and Sen. Carey Baker, a gun-shop owner from Eustis -- are Republicans. An additional 12 GOP lawmakers have signed on as co-sponsors, as has Kendrick.
"The purpose is to get folks more active and get folks more involved," Evers said, adding that supporters are still trying to figure out how to ease the extra workload the proposal would create for businesses and local elections offices.
Such a law, however, could also be a boon for Republican candidates come November.
Analysts say hunters and anglers are natural allies for the Republican Party. Making it easier for them to register should help the GOP expand its base, said Jim Kane, a Fort Lauderdale-based pollster.
"Those types of voters who do get hunting licenses are more likely to vote Republican," Kane said. "I'd say the odds are probably well over 60 percent."
About 3.9 million people in Florida are registered Republicans, according to the Division of Elections. Slightly fewer than 4.3 million are registered Democrats.
Of course, Kane and other pollsters say registering voters is one thing, getting them to vote is another.
They point to Motor Voter, which many Republicans feared would help Democrats in much the same way. But while the federal law led to dramatic gains in voter registration, it did not have the same impact on turnout in elections.
Still, the Republican Party prides itself on a powerful get-out-the-vote machine. The party turned President Bush's 537-vote victory in Florida during the 2000 presidential election into a nearly 400,000-vote win in 2004, in large part by rooting out natural supporters who had not been voting.
Supporters insist the idea has nothing to do with partisan politics.
"Personally, I don't care what party they register with," Baker said.
Hammer called such concerns "silly." "Anybody that would attempt to prevent any other citizen who has a legal right to vote from being able to conveniently register, I would be suspect of their motives," she said.
Smith, the House Democratic leader, said it would be hypocritical for Democrats, who have led calls in the past to expand voting access, to oppose this plan.
He also noted that the legislation could be the perfect opportunity to expand voter-registration sites even further -- such as at legal-aid clinics.
"It's a great bill to do some amendments on," he said.
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