Suppressing votes or preventing fraud?

TAMPA - Around 400 people rallied in downtown Tampa to raise support against new state voting laws that critics contend will leave many out of the process.

The rally surrounded a Congressional hearing at the George Edgecomb Courthouse.

Earlier this year, Governor Rick Scott signed into law legislation that will cut down on the days for early voting from 14 to eight, and make it harder for voters who move to change their addresses at the polls.

Critics of the legislation argue it could disenfranchise seniors, young voters and minorities.

Inside the courthouse, U.S. senators Bill Nelson and Dick Durbin held the hearing to talk about the impact the new law is having.

Making things even more complicated, Hillsborough is the only county in our area that doesn't follow the new state law.

Hillsborough and five other Florida counties are covered under a separate federal law that doesn't allow any voting law changes because of a history of disenfranchising black voters.

The heated battle over new voter rules spilled over in downtown Tampa. The new voter laws that the governor signed off on in may have to do with early voting and signing up new voters.

The new rules are said to be designed to prevent voter fraud, but the protesters don't see it way.

Under the new guidelines, early voting will be shortened from 14 days to eight days.

And voting the Sunday before election day is no longer an option.

"I've been a poll worker, I've seen some of the difficulties that people have getting to that poll. I have a real strong feeling about this," said protester Gene Watson.

Rod Smith, chairman of the Florida Democratic Party, says the new rules will hurt minority groups and poor people who tend to vote for Democrats.

"They've done away with the Sunday before the election, which as you know, is one the heaviest voter turnouts, especially for people that don't get paid, can't just leave the office that day on election day," Smith said.

Also under the new rules, groups that do voter registration drives have 48 hours to submit registration forms.

They used to have 10 days. Debbie King with the Florida Consumer Action Network said during the last election, she registered 18,000 new voters.

She doesn't see that happening this time.

"What really gets us, is for people for people to actually register voters, a third party, you have to actually register every single voter registration form, so if you lose one, that's a fine," King explained.

And King says the voices of young people, like college students, could be silenced on election day. Voters who have moved to a new address outside the county can only cast provisional ballots.