News-Press Publishing Co. v. Firestone

527 So. 2d 223, 13 Fla. L. Weekly 1085, 15 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 1663, 1988 Fla. App. LEXIS 1791
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedMay 6, 1988
DocketNo. 87-1504
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 527 So. 2d 223 (News-Press Publishing Co. v. Firestone) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
News-Press Publishing Co. v. Firestone, 527 So. 2d 223, 13 Fla. L. Weekly 1085, 15 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 1663, 1988 Fla. App. LEXIS 1791 (Fla. Ct. App. 1988).

Opinions

THREADGILL, Judge.

We have for review an order of the circuit court holding section 101.121, Florida Statutes (1985) constitutional. We find the statute to be unconstitutional on its face because it is overbroad and violates rights guaranteed by the first amendment to the United States Constitution and article I, section 4 of the Florida Constitution. We therefore reverse.

The 1985 Florida Legislature amended section 101.121, Florida Statutes, to prohibit nonvoters from coming within fifty feet of an open polling place and to exempt commercial businesses and privately owned property from this restriction.1 The statute previously had prohibited general access within fifteen feet. Section 104.41, Fla.Stat. (1985) provides criminal penalties for violation of the statute.

In September 1986, Lee County poll workers enforced the statute against a photographer from the Fort Myers News-Press who was attempting to take pictures of a candidate for state office at his polling place. The newspaper filed suit in circuit court seeking to have the statute declared unconstitutional and to enjoin future enforcement. The court granted a temporary injunction allowing the media to cover the November 1986 general election but, several months later, held that the statute was constitutional and granted the appellee’s motion for summary judgment. Notice of appeal was timely filed.

The appellant, News-Press, and amici curiae argue that the statute is overbroad, void for vagueness and unconstitutional as applied to the media. Because we agree that the statute is overbroad, we need not reach the other issues.

A statute is properly challenged on overbreadth grounds if it seeks to control activities properly subject to regulation by means that sweep too broadly into areas of [225]*225constitutionally protected freedoms. State v. Gray, 435 So.2d 816 (Fla.1983). Even “[a] clear and precise enactment may ... be ‘overbroad’ if in its reach it prohibits constitutionally protected conduct.” Grayned v. City of Rockford, 408 U.S. 104, 114, 92 S.Ct. 2294, 2302, 33 L.Ed.2d 222, 231 (1972); Moore v. City of East Cleveland, 431 U.S. 494, 97 S.Ct. 1932, 52 L.Ed. 2d 531 (1977).

The fifty-foot radius set by the statute around polling places will undoubtedly, in many cases, encompass sidewalks, city streets and public parks which are traditional public forums for free expression and thus “occup[y] a special position in terms of First Amendment protection,” United States v. Grace, 461 U.S. 171, 180, 103 S.Ct. 1702, 75 L.Ed.2d 736 (1983). See also Hague v. CIO, 307 U.S. 496, 515, 59 S.Ct. 954, 83 L.Ed. 1423 (opinion of Roberts, J.) (1939). Such public places “are so historically associated with the exercise of first amendment rights that access to them for the purpose of exercising such rights cannot constitutionally be denied broadly and absolutely.” Hudgens v. NLRB, 424 U.S. 507, 515, 96 S.Ct. 1029, 47 L.Ed.2d 196, (quoting Food Employees v. Logan Valley Plaza, 391 U.S. 308, 315, 88 S.Ct. 1601, 20 L.Ed.2d 603, 45 Ohio Op.2d 181 (1968)). Many polling places are in schools, churches and community halls, both public and private, which are likewise commonly used for free expression.

While first amendment rights are subject to reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions, such restrictions “must be supported by a compelling governmental interest and must be narrowly drawn so as to involve no more infringement than is necessary.” First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti, 435 U.S. 765, 98 S.Ct. 1407, 55 L.Ed.2d 707 (1978); Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1, 96 S.Ct. 612, 46 L.Ed.2d 659 (1976); Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc. v. State, 408 So. 2d 211, 212 (Fla.1982).

The appellees contend that a prohibition on access within fifty feet of polling places is reasonable because of the compelling state interest in protecting the secrecy of the ballot and maintaining order at the polling place. We agree, and the appellant concedes, that protection of the orderly process of voting and the secrecy of the ballot is a compelling governmental interest. Feld v. Prewitt, 118 S.W.2d 700 (Ky. 1938); Clean-Up ’84 v. Heinrich, 759 F.2d 1511, 1514 (11th Cir.1985).

Laws designed to effect these purposes are unquestionably a legitimate exercise of the state’s police power, but may easily be tailored to do so without infringement on constitutionally guaranteed rights. The legislature has evinced a willingness to address other specific problems affecting the voting process in chapter 104, Florida Statutes. See e.g., § 104.061 (providing penalties for corrupt influence of electors); § 104.20 (prohibiting any elector allowing his ballot to be seen or endeavoring to get an elector to show how he voted and other offenses); § 104.22 (providing penalties for stealing and destroying election records); § 104.23 (providing penalties for disclosing how an elector votes); § 104.26 (providing penalties for destroying ballots or booths provided for voting). We note additionally that any substantial interference with the voting process would likely be punishable under § 877.03 dealing with disorderly conduct and providing penalties for anyone committing “such acts as ... affect the peace and quiet of persons who may witness them....”

We find that in addition to safeguarding the acknowledged compelling governmental interests, section 101.121 also prohibits mere presence with the limits which in no way interferes with these acknowledged interests, and thus prohibits all exercise of first amendment rights and everyday activities such as walking on a sidewalk or through a public building within the zone, regardless of any effect on the election process.

The state has not alleged any serious problems in the fifty-foot zone as a result of activities which are otherwise protected by the First Amendment. Unsubstantiated fear or “apprehension of disturbance” is not a compelling state interest and is “not enough to overcome the right to freedom of expression.” Tinker v. Des Moines In[226]*226dependent School Dist., 393 U.S. 503, 508, 89 S.Ct. 733, 21 L.Ed.2d 731 (1969); San Antonio Telephone Company v. American Telephone and Telegraph Company, 529 F.2d 694, 700 (5th Cir.1976). Legislatures may curtail free expression only through the “least restrictive means,” Brown v. Glines, 444 U.S. 348, 100 S.Ct. 594, 62 L.Ed.2d 540 (1980), and we find that the statute challenged here is not limited to situations threatening the secrecy of the ballot or order at the polls.

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Related

Firestone v. News-Press Pub. Co., Inc.
538 So. 2d 457 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1989)
News-Press Pub. Co., Inc. v. Firestone
527 So. 2d 223 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1988)

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Bluebook (online)
527 So. 2d 223, 13 Fla. L. Weekly 1085, 15 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 1663, 1988 Fla. App. LEXIS 1791, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/news-press-publishing-co-v-firestone-fladistctapp-1988.