TALLAHASSEE -- A House council hurriedly passed a sweeping rewrite of Florida election laws Friday after shutting down debate and public comment, prompting an uproar and cries of ''travesty'' from opponents.

Like a similar Senate version, the House bill would ban two forms of voter ID at the polls now used mainly by older voters and require paid initiative-petition circulators to register with the state. It also would require people whose address changed in the month before an election to cast provisional ballots, prohibit anyone from interacting with voters in a floating 100-foot zone outside polling places and make it more difficult for third-party groups to register new voters.

The bill allows political committees registered in other states to be active in Florida without complying with the Sunshine State's campaign reporting requirements, which are stricter than other states. Legislators would be allowed to create leadership funds to solicit large donations from special interests and lobbyists, and it repeals a 2008 law that allows senators and others who hold a four-year term to run for a federal office without resigning.

EARLY VOTING

Absent from the bill is an expansion of early voting hours or locations. That was a major concern of election supervisors in the 2008 election. Gov. Charlie Crist signed an executive order expanding early voting hours, a factor that was cited as helpful to Barack Obama's Florida victory.

The 81-page bill was debated for just six minutes before it passed on a 10-5 party-line vote at a one-hour meeting at 8 a.m. of the House Economic Development Council. No other committee is slated to review the bill, so there's no chance for additional public testimony in the two weeks left in the session.

Similarly, the Senate version (SB 956) was heard for the first time Thursday, passing the Ethics and Elections Committee 5-3 over Democratic objections.

On Friday, Republican Rep. Jennifer Carroll of Green Cove Springs suggested restricting debate to six minutes. When the committee chairman, Rep. Dave Murzin, R-Pensacola, allowed two people to make brief statements, Rep. Rob Schenck, R-Brooksville, insisted that no more testimony be allowed.

Asked later to explain his conduct, Schenck said: ``It was just procedural. This issue will be vetted very thoroughly on the [House] floor and there will probably be hours of debate on it.''

''This is a travesty,'' said Rep. Maria Sachs, D-Boca Raton.

Rep. Audrey Gibson, D-Jacksonville, said the bill ''is an attempt at suppressing Democratic voter turnout because they turned out in record numbers'' in 2008.

Components of the bill were discussed only fleetingly, such as a proposal that would prohibit any ''person, political committee or other group or organization'' from interacting with voters waiting in line to vote.

`UNCONSCIONABLE'

When Rep. Oscar Braynon, D-Miami Gardens, asked the bill's sponsor if people would be prevented from dispensing water to voters standing in line in the heat, Rep. Dorothy Hukill, R-Port Orange, said she didn't know.

''I think it was unconscionable,'' said Rich Templin of the Florida AFL-CIO, one of those not allowed to testify. Murzin told him to submit written testimony instead.

The labor group and five other organizations called the House's action ''an insult to the hundreds of thousands of Floridians our organizations collectively represent. We are firmly convinced that this legislation will fundamentally alter Florida's most basic democratic institutions and disenfranchise millions of our state's voters.'' They said a hurried vote, without a public debate, ``represents the height of arrogance by some of our legislative leaders.''

The House Democratic leader, Rep. Franklin Sands, D-Weston, took the floor on a point of personal privilege to condemn the council's action. He said the bill's contents were not made public until late Thursday night while lawmakers were debating the budget. Sands asked that the bill be returned to the same committee for more study and testimony.

''This morning's deliberations failed to meet the Legislature's promise of open and fair government,'' Sands said.

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