A Pace teacher could face up to a $1,000
fine for allegedly failing to turn the voter
registrations of 76 students in to the state
on time.
Dawn Quarles, who teaches government at
Pace High School, said the state's new law
requiring third parties to turn in voter
registrations within 48 hours is too hard to
follow.
"I won't be doing it anymore; it's too
dangerous," said Quarles, who has been
helping students register to vote since
2008 as a sponsor of student groups. "A
thousand dollars is a lot of money, and 48
hours isn't enough time."
The Republican-sponsored law, passed
during last year's legislative session,
requires voter registrations turned in by
third parties to be received by the
supervisor of elections no more than 48
hours after they were signed by the voter.
The previous time limit was 10 days. The
law assesses a penalty of $50 for each
registration received late. Penalties are
capped at $1,000.
On Tuesday, Quarles received a copy of a
letter sent last week from the Secretary of
State's Office to the Attorney General's
Office suggesting that she be fined for
violating the law. She said past mistakes
have made her a target.
Quarles said when she began sponsoring
voter-registration drives at the school, she
didn't know she had to be registered as a
third-party organization.
She said she tried to comply with the law
after being notified by the supervisor of
elections.
Chris Cates, spokesman for Secretary of
State Kurt Browning, said Quarles' violation,
however, won't prevent any of the students'
registrations from being accepted. He said
Quarles' past violations led Browning to
recommend that the attorney general
pursue the fine.
"In her case, she should have been aware
of the rules," Cates said. "She had a history
of keeping a student from voting because
she turned in his registration too late. The
student showed up at the polls (in the
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2008 presidential election) and was turned
away because his voter registration had
been turned in late."
Quarles said she never was notified that
she allegedly had violated the law in that
case.
"There were some applications that student
leaders were responsible for that were
misplaced," she said. "When we found
them, we went ahead and mailed them in.
They got processed, and I never got told
anything was wrong."
Ann Bodenstein, supervisor of elections for
Santa Rosa County, said only a few third
parties are registered with the county to
submit voter registrations. The local office
is responsible only for accepting
registrations; the state determines
compliance, Bodenstein said.
Cates said the Secretary of State's Office
isn't trying to suppress voters. He said the
state has investigated six cases similar to
Quarles' since the law went into effect.
"We really want to encourage voter drives
and voter registration," he said. "We're not
trying to stifle voting. The purpose is to try
to protect people who are being registered
to vote."
Quarles has at least one legislator on her
side. She has spoken to Sen. Greg Evers,
R-Baker, who voted for the law, about her
case.
"Forty-eight hours for someone for whom
that's their job is not unreasonable," Evers
said. "For a teacher, it's totally out of
bounds."
Evers said he'd seek a clarification on the
law from the Legislature.
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