A pair of Florida Democrats are pushing legislation to make it easier for people to vote after a natural disaster. Sen. Tina Polsky and Rep. Lindsay Cross have filed bills (SB 1486 and HB 1317) in their respective chambers to afford additional opportunities to vote in disaster areas.

Dubbed the “Disaster-Affected Voter Bill of Rights,” the measure would ensure all voters living in communities impacted by a disaster, such as a hurricane, have an equal opportunity to vote as those in areas unaffected by the disaster.

The measure would allow voters to call the local Supervisor of Elections to request a vote-by-mail ballot at a temporary address. Currently, displaced residents must submit a signed statewide form. The bills would also allow voters to have their already requested mail ballot forwarded by the U.S. Postal Service.

The measures would allow voters to return ballots to an elections office in a different county or at polling places on Election Day, a perk not currently allowed that would provide displaced voters the opportunity to cast a ballot where they are living temporarily in cases where damage to their home or community requires them to relocate to a friend, family, rental, or other living situation necessitated by the disaster.

Additionally, the measure would give voters an extra two days to request or return a ballot or to cure any signature issues with a vote-by-mail ballot. It would also provide for early voting 15 days before the election, through Election Day, with mobile polling locations as an option. The bills would open the option for additional early voting sites, offer intake stations beyond early voting hours, and allow ballots to be held at local offices in areas where post offices are impacted.

The additional voting measures would apply to any county designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency or the Governor as a declared state of emergency.

“Natural disasters shouldn’t prevent voters from casting a ballot. During the aftermath of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, thousands of residents in my district were scrambling to pick up the pieces and rebuild their lives. With their polling places also underwater, the last thing they needed to worry about is where, how, or if they could vote. As a state, we should be looking at ways to make it easier for people impacted by disasters to exercise one of their fundamental freedoms as Americans – voting. These changes will ensure that, come hell or high water, Floridians can exercise their right to vote,” said Cross, whose St. Pete-based district was heavily impacted last hurricane season by back-to-back storms Helene and Milton.

Polsky likewise said voters “deserve the peace of mind that, even in the face of natural disasters like hurricanes, they will be able to easily and fully participate” in the democratic process.

“The response to a natural disaster amidst the election season should be applied uniformly. All voters deserve protection and ease of access when facing emergencies,” she said.

The measures, filed on Thursday, have already garnered support from voting rights groups.

“The unfortunate reality in Florida is that elections often coincide with hurricane season,” All Voting is Local Action Florida State Director Brad Ashwell said. “What doesn’t have to be a reality, however, is natural disasters becoming politicized by the state that will ultimately get to pick and choose which counties’ voters get help and which ones don’t. This bill ensures that a hurricane wouldn’t automatically make it harder for Floridians to vote, as it would equitably spread relief measures across the state like extended vote times and grant more flexible vote-by-mail options while ensuring that election officials have the resources they need.”

Added Amy Keith, executive director for Common Cause Florida: “It is common sense to make sure that voters in all counties affected by a disaster have the same opportunities to vote. Our state prides itself on common sense and freedom – let’s ensure those in disaster areas, regardless of which county they live in, have the same access to the ballot as they recover and rebuild their lives.”

The Southern Poverty Law Center is also on board.

“Florida voters who suffer from the consequences of natural disasters deserve to have an equal opportunity to participate in our elections,” the group’s Florida Policy Associate, Aurelie Colon Larrauri, said. “Last year’s hurricane season was the most destructive to date, forcing many Floridians to evacuate due to fear of flooding, tornadoes, and a multitude of other reasons that led to displacement during and after the storm. That is why we are grateful to Rep. Lindsay Cross and Sen. Tina Polsky for sponsoring the Disaster-Affected Voter Bill of Rights, which ensures that all Florida voters can cast their ballot in upcoming elections.”

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President Donald Trump arrives this week on Capitol Hill to deliver a speech to Congress, a coequal branch of government he has bulldozed past this first month in office, wielding unimaginable executive power to get what he wants, at home and abroad.

The Tuesday night address will unfold in the chamber where lawmakers crouched in fear four years ago while a mob of his supporters roamed the halls, and where Nancy Pelosi, Liz Cheney and others vowed to prevent him from ever holding office again. It’s the same House chamber where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy received a hero’s welcome for fighting off Russia’s invasion, in the first year of that war.

Since his reelection, Trump has blazed across the federal government, dismantling not just norms and traditions but the very government itself. With billionaire aide Elon Musk by his side, he is firing thousands of federal workers, closing agencies established by law and publicly badgering Zelenskyy while positioning the U.S. closer to Russia.

As legal cases mount, more than 100 so far challenging the legality of the Trump administration’s actions, the Republican president is daring the other branches of government — Congress and the courts — to try to stop him.

“This whole thing about approaching a constitutional crisis is not quite true,” said Rep. James Clyburn, of South Carolina, a senior Democrat in the House. “We’re already there.”

Trump revels in going it alone, but there are limits

Reveling in the might of going it alone, Trump is about to test the limits of his executive branch authority as he turns to Congress to deliver tax cuts and other key aspects of his agenda. Only Congress, by law, can allocate funds — or pull them back — but the Trump administration’s actions have been testing that foundational rule, enshrined in the Constitution.

Trump also needs lawmakers to fund the government and ensure federal operations don’t shut down when money runs out March 14. And he will need Congress to pass legislation to prevent an economically damaging debt default, something he has pushed lawmakers to resolve.

While Trump enjoys the rare sweep of power in Washington, with the Republicans controlling the White House, the House and the Senate, he relies on political fear as well as favor to motivate lawmakers. With Musk having poured $200 million into electing Trump, the President has a ready patron whose vast political funds can influence any resisters.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, who has positioned himself as a partner to the President, has said he’s excited about what Trump is accomplishing in rooting out waste, fraud and abuse to downsize government.

“Fireworks,” is what Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, said he expects from Trump’s speech, dismissing as “nonsense” concerns that Congress is ceding too much power to the White House.

“The President is doing what he said on the campaign trail he would do,” Johnson said Sunday on Fox News Channel.

Democrats, after their stunning rejection by voters, are slowly beginning to mount a resistance. They are fighting Trump in court, with amicus briefs to protect federal workers, and filing legislation to serve as a check on what House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York calls the “parade of horribles.”

But as the minority party, they are limited in their power. Jeffries brushed off calls for Democrats to boycott Trump’s address. “It’s the people’s House. It’s the House of Representatives,” he said on CNN.

Instead, Democrats are inviting fired federal workers as their guests.

Tax cuts and mass deportation funds all at stake

One of Trump’s top campaign promises, extending the tax breaks approved during his first term in 2017, is posing one of his party’s biggest challenges.

Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota are marshalling the GOP majority to deliver what Trump calls a “big, beautiful bill” extending those tax breaks — and providing new ones. But Republicans also want some $2 trillion in budget cuts with changes to Medicaid and other services that millions of Americans count on, which Trump could decide is too much to bear.

Trump’s other big campaign promise — the biggest deportation operation in U.S. history — is running short of cash, and border czar Tom Homan has implored Republicans on Capitol Hill to loosen the purse strings to give the Homeland Security and Defense departments the money needed.

Those budget debates all come as the Trump administration is ripping the federal government apart and freezing federal funds. It’s challenging the Nixon-era Impoundment Control Act, which prevents the executive branch from halting allocations Congress has already approved, setting up a showdown that could wind up at the Supreme Court.

“Testing the boundaries a little, I would expect that,” said Rep. Steve Womack, an Arkansas Republican, who said he supports much of what the Trump administration is doing, to a point.

“We’ve got separate but equal branches of government,” said Womack, whose committee controls vast funding. “What we don’t want is, we don’t want a constitutional crisis.”

LIves, livelihoods and the echoes of Jan. 6

It’s not just constitutional issues at stake but the lives and livelihoods of Americans. Communities depend on federal dollars — for health care clinics, school programs and countless contracts for companies large and small that provide goods and services to the federal government. Many are watching that money evaporate overnight.

Republican Sen. Jim Justice of West Virginia, a former Governor, said voters back home have concerns even as they support the idea of downsizing government.

“People are always afraid of the dark,” he said, citing potential changes to Medicaid and preschool programs in particular. “Let’s give it time to see really what materializes before we run through the streets with our hair on fire.”

And the threat of Jan. 6, 2021, hangs over the building.

Trump will stand on the dais where Pelosi, then the House speaker, was whisked to safety as the mob ransacked the Capitol. He will look out over the rows of lawmakers, some of whom blocked the back door to the chamber as Capitol Police were fending off rioters, steps away from where Trump supporter Ashli Babbitt was shot and killed. Visitors will be watching from the galleries where representatives crouched on the floor in gas masks before being evacuated.

The Supreme Court granted Trump’s presidential actions wide immunity from prosecution, and the four-count criminal indictment against him over Jan. 6 was withdrawn once he was reelected, in line with Justice Department policy.

In one of his first acts on Inauguration Day, Trump issued a sweeping pardon of all the rioters, including extremist leaders Stuart Rhodes and Enrique Tarrio, who were convicted of sedition. They have both returned to make appearances at the Capitol since their release from prison.

Sen. Peter Welch, a Vermont Democrat, was in the Capitol on Jan. 6.

“I acknowledge that he won and he’s got the right to use all the executive authority to pursue his policies. He doesn’t have a right to exceed constitutional authority,” Welch said. “So how he does this should be of great concern to all of us.”

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Republished with permission of The Associated Press.

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