Trial underway for Florida’s GOP voting restrictions law

By ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE
Associated Press

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A trial challenging Florida’s new voting restrictions has begun with civil rights groups moving to block the sweeping Republican election law as an unnecessary burden on the right to cast ballots. Chief U.S. District Judge Mark E. Walker will hear the case, which combines a flurry of lawsuits from advocacy groups that sued shortly after Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the bill last spring, proclaiming he was securing election integrity. The start of the trial Monday marked another chapter in the national debate over voting rights. It follows a wave of state GOP bills that tightened access to mail and early balloting as Republicans cling to former President Donald Trump’s false claims of fraud in the 2020 election.