Gov. Rick Scott takes questions on the elections bill Wednesday | Photo: Gray Rohrer

Democrats have derided HB 1355, which passed through the Legislature in party-line votes, as a naked partisan attack aimed at disenfranchising many voters throughout the state who historically lean Democratic.

But it was a Republican, former state representative and Miami-Dade County mayoral candidate Marcelo Llorente, who filed a lawsuit against the bill Wednesday, before it became law. He brought the suit after the Miami-Dade County supervisor of elections office posted a notice Monday that previously scheduled early voting hours on Sunday would be canceled due to the passage of HB 1355.

HB 1355’s provision reducing the number of the early voting period from two weeks to one week -- although it allows for a maximum of 96 hours of early voting as in current statute -- is one of several in the bill that Democrats and left-leaning progressive groups say target their voters.

Other controversial provisions in the law prevent voters from changing their address if they move out of the county on the day of an election (although there is an exemption for military members and their family), impose fines on third-party voter registration groups that send in false names or fail to report those they register within 48 hours, reduce the time period for citizens seeking constitutional amendments to gather petition signatures from four years to two years, and set up a committee to determine the date of the 2012 Republican presidential preference primary.

Although much of the law won’t become effective until July 1, the early voting portion became effective upon Scott’s signature, allowing Miami-Dade County to cancel Sunday’s early voting hours. The Miami-Dade County supervisor of elections expanded the early voting hours on Saturday from four to eight to make up for the missed day.

Circuit Court Judge Barbara Areces did not render a ruling on the case immediately after the hearing Thursday.

“Once again, the county chose not to side with its residents. I call upon the County Commission to immediately reverse their position and join us in preserving what was duly advertised to the voters as the last day of early voting,” Llorente said after the hearing.

Llorente’s suit was only aimed at keeping the Sunday early voting hours open, and didn’t give an assessment of the remainder of the law during a conference call Wednesday.

Democrats, however, haven’t been as shy in expressing their displeasure at the entirety of the law. Several Democratic state legislators, unable to halt the bill’s passage because they are vastly outnumbered in the both the House and Senate, urged citizens to pressure Scott to veto the bill.

“This bill was not requested by an overwhelming number of citizens or supervisors of elections. This bill does nothing to increase the number of voters. However, it will reduce the number of eligible voters and provisional ballots cast,” said Rep. Dwight Bullard, D-Miami, in a message released earlier in the week urging citizens to call Scott and ask him to veto the bill.

Scott duly received thousands of letters and e-mails asking him for a veto, but signed the bill nonetheless.

Republican lawmakers who helped pass the law defended it as a measure preventing the potential for voter fraud, even though there has been scant evidence of voter fraud in recent elections.