Floridians endured election chaos and marathon voting lines this year, largely thanks to reduced early voting hours, voter purges, and voter registration restrictions pushed by Republican legislators. In an exclusive report by the Palm Beach Post, several prominent Florida Republicans are now admitting that these election law changes were geared toward suppressing minority and Democratic votes.

Former governor Charlie Crist (R-FL) and former GOP chairman Jim Greer (R-FL), as well as several current GOP members, told the Post that Republican consultants pushed the new measures as a way to suppress Democratic voters. Crist expanded early voting hours in 2008 despite party pressure, but Gov. Rick Scott (R-FL) targeted early voting almost immediately when he took office in 2011. Scott’s administration claimed the new laws were meant to curb in-person voter fraud, despite the fact that an individual in Florida is more likely to be struck by lightning than commit voter fraud.

Current party members and consultants confirmed the motive was not to stop voter fraud but to make it harder for Democrats and minorities to vote:

Wayne Bertsch, who handles local and legislative races for Republicans, said he knew targeting Democrats was the goal. “In the races I was involved in in 2008, when we started seeing the increase of turnout and the turnout operations that the Democrats were doing in early voting, it certainly sent a chill down our spines. And in 2008, it didn’t have the impact that we were afraid of. It got close, but it wasn’t the impact that they had this election cycle,” Bertsch said, referring to the fact that Democrats picked up seven legislative seats in Florida in 2012 despite the early voting limitations.

Another GOP consultant, who did not want to be named, also confirmed that influential consultants to the Republican Party of Florida were intent on beating back Democratic turnout in early voting after 2008.

[...]A GOP consultant who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of retribution said black voters were a concern. “I know that the cutting out of the Sunday before Election Day was one of their targets only because that’s a big day when the black churches organize themselves,” he said.

Though the state ultimately went to President Obama, the Republican effort to suppress votes was largely successful. A post-election report found that new voting restrictions led to a huge increase in provisional ballots, which are cast when there is some question of the voter’s eligibility.

While crying voter fraud, the Florida GOP had to confront its own scandal when a voter registration firm they hired turned in hundreds of fraudulent registration forms in several Florida counties. The GOP hastily cut ties with the group when the state opened a criminal investigation into their operations.

Florida’s leading LGBT organization, Equality Florida, has rightfully praised Charlie Crist (I-FL) for suddenly embracing a wide array of LGBT equality measures, but it’s probably worth pointing out that his conversion comes out of political necessity, not any kind of policy realization. In fact when Crist was running for Governor and for Senator as a Republican, he opposed almost every measure he now supports. Consider the following:

CRIST ON FLORIDA’S GAY ADOPTION BAN:

2010: “That is why I oppose Florida’s current law that requires Family Law judges to ignore what is right for a child in order to adhere to what Florida law blindly demands.”

2006: “Charlie Crist also believes that children are best raised in a traditional family. Accordingly, he does not support repealing the ban on adoption by same-sex couples.”

CRIST ON EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION:

2010: “I support strong anti-discrimination laws including ENDA. Employment and advancement should be based on skill and merit, not hindered by prejudice of any kind.

2006: “Charlie Crist does not support including sexual orientation within anti-discrimination laws…Charlie Crist opposes giving sexual orientation status equivalent to those currently covered under existing civil rights laws. “

CRIST ON CIVIL UNIONS:

2010: “I believe civil unions that provide the full range of legal protections should be available to gay couples. That includes access to a loved one in the hospital, inheritance rights, the fundamental things people need to take care of their families.”

2006: “Charlie Crist does not believe that the government or private industry should be required to provide health insurance benefits to same sex partners of employees or contractors.”

2008: Opposed civil unions when he supported The Florida Marriage Amendment, or Proposition 2. It said: “This amendment protects marriage as the legal union of only one man and one woman as husband and wife and provides that no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized.”

CRIST ON DON’T ASK, DONT’ TELL:

2010: “I’m a strong supporter of the men and women of our military. Those willing to risk their lives to defend our country should not be compelled to lie to do so.”

MAY 2010: “I think the current policy has worked pretty well for America. I really do. So I don’t know why there’s any need for change at this time.”

Again, Crist’s progress speaks to the success of LGBT activism in bringing these policies into mainstream and hints to the positions all candidates will have to take in future elections. But the reason for Crist’s evolution should not escape scrutiny. Crist changed his positions to lure moderate and independent voters away from Democratic challenger Rep. Kendrick Meek (D-FL). And now, both men have almost identical positions on LGBT rights, with Crist still hanging on to his support for a state-based same-sex marriage ban. Ideally, of course, Crist’s move to the left would push Meek to embrace full marriage equality — a position that 41% of Floridans already hold (and increase of 15 percentage points from the mid 1990s). But I suspect that LGBT voters will have to wait two if not four more years for that issue to enter the mainstream.

Raw Story is reporting that Gov. Charlie Crist (I-FL) will issue a new position paper later this week embracing a host of new LGBT initiatives, while still opposing same-sex marriage:

Civil Unions
I believe that the government should not make it harder for people to take care of their loved ones. I believe civil unions that provide the full range of legal protections should be available to gay couples. That includes access to a loved one in the hospital, inheritance rights, the fundamental things people need to take care of their families.

Repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
I’m a strong supporter of the men and women of our military. Those willing to risk their lives to defend our country should not be compelled to lie to do so. I support the current efforts by Congress and military leadership to end Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and hold every member of the military to the same standard of professionalism that has made our military the greatest force for good in the world

Federal Safe Schools Improvement Act
As Commissioner of Education I was the first statewide official to support anti-bullying protections that specifically enumerated the most frequent manifestations of bullying in our schools. Everyone who has children or who has worked with students knows that anti-gay taunts are used relentlessly on our campuses. We need to address the epidemic of bullying and create safe learning environments for every single student.

The Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act
I’ve been a consistent supporter of providing legal protections for gay couples. Like most Americans I believe the government should make it easier, not harder, for people to take care of their loved ones.

Uniting American Families Act
Family reunification has been the foundation of U.S. immigration law but U.S. citizens who are gay cannot sponsor their partners for family-based immigration. As a consequence, many same-sex, bi-national couples are kept apart or torn apart sometimes even separating parents from their children. This bill, which I support, humanely addresses a problem that disproportionately impacts Floridians.

Equal Access to COBRA Act
I strongly support this act which mandates that employees, their partners and dependent children be allowed to continue participation in their employer-sponsored health coverage.

Crist has a long and complicated history on gay issues and has at times opposed many of the above measures. As a Republican, Crist supported the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) policy, but as an independent, he now supports its repeal. Crist has also supported efforts to ban gay marriage in Florida, but has said that civil unions between gays are “fine.” In 2007, however, he asked the Republican party to stop spending money promoting “a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage in Florida” even after he signed a petition “to place an amendment prohibiting same-sex marriage on the 2008 election ballot.” “When asked if he supported civil rights on the basis of sexual orientation, Crist said ‘no.’”

On July 28, 2006, Crist told a radio show that he “haven’t taken a position yet” on the right of gays to adopt, but only days after — in an interview by the Florida Baptist Witness — “Crist answered ‘no’ to repealing the ban on gays’ adopting.” In the draft provided to Raw Story, Crist says he now opposes the adoption ban. “We need to take politics out of adoption decisions,” the governor says in the draft. “That is why I oppose Florida’s current law that requires Family Law judges to ignore what is right for a child in order to adhere to what Florida law blindly demands. There is only one question that matters: What is in the best interest of that child?”

As an independent, Crist probably feels that he has to position himself as more accepting of LGBT issues to bolster his position with moderate voters. This strategic decision — the realization that supporting LGBT issues is mainstream — is in itself a major victory for LGBT activists. As Equality Florida’s Nadine Smith points out, “It’s great to hear a sitting governor take such a strong stand on equality issues. This is the first time in Florida’s history that a sitting governor has taken these public positions on a wide range of LGBT equality issues. It marks a shift in the debate in our state.”

Yesterday, after initially suggesting that he supported a constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex marriage, Florida Governor Charlie Crist issued a clarification statement saying that while he does not support same sex marriage, he opposes a constitutional amendment prohibiting it. He favors civil unions. “I am fully supportive of civil unions and will continue to be as a United States Senator, but believe marriage is a sacred institution between a man and a woman,” he said. As he put it in June, “If you want to have couples or partners who want to reside together [in civil unions], I don’t have a problem with that…I’ve always supported civil unions, but I think marriage in the traditional sense is what I believe in,” Crist told Time magazine.

But that’s not what he believed in 2008. Back then, Crist had abandoned his “live and let live” attitude and announced his support for The Florida Marriage Amendment, or Proposition 2. That language prohibited not just same-sex marriages; it also outlawed civil unions:

This amendment protects marriage as the legal union of only one man and one woman as husband and wife and provides that no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized.”

During the campaign for Proposition 2, supporters of the amendment maintained that civil unions should be prohibited alongside marriage, since they grant gay couples all of the rights of marriage. “We believed, during the campaign, that civil unions would very likely be prohibited by the amendment,” Equality Florida’s Brian Winsield told me. He remains hopeful, however, that the measure, which passed with 62% of the vote, would allow for domestic partnerships — arrangements that grant couples only some of the rights of marriage. Crist presumably has two positions on that as well.