An ongoing federal review of Florida voting laws has forced the state's top election chief to tell supervisors to ignore a new law that takes effect on Jan. 1.

In the spring, the GOP-controlled Legislature tightened up the types of photo IDs that could be used by voters, but the new law has been put on hold because the U.S. Department of Justice has yet to sign off on the change.

Florida's top election officials this week told election supervisors to ignore a handful of voting law changes because federal authorities are still reviewing them to see if they would adversely affect minority voters.

Because of past discrimination in five Florida counties -- Monroe, Collier, Hillsborough, Hendry and Hardee -- the federal government must sign off on any changes before they take effect.

While the federal government can block the law from taking effect only in those five counties, Florida law requires voting standards to be uniform throughout the state.

A spokesman for Secretary of State Kurt Browning said it is easier to ask supervisors to keep their current procedures intact until the federal government has made a final decision. The Department of Justice has until Jan. 25 to make a decision. The Florida primary is Jan. 29.

''If the Department of Justice does not [approve it], we do not have to back up and implement something else,'' said spokesman Sterling Ivey.

Federal authorities have questioned four small portions of a lengthy election law passed by lawmakers, including a decision to eliminate two forms of photo identification that can be used by voters -- a buyers' club card and employee badges -- at the polls. There are nine other types of photo ID, including a driver's license, student ID or U.S. passport, that can still be used at the polls.

The Justice Department also asked why lawmakers decided to give voters two days instead of three to prove their identity if they vote by provisional ballot.

Federal authorities also want to know the impact of imposing fines on groups that hold voter registration drives. A similar law imposing fines on groups was challenged by the League of Women Voters in federal court in 2006, so lawmakers went back and lowered the fines.

Justice has also raised questions about the state's ''no match'' law that requires information on a voter registration application to match either driver's license numbers or Social Security numbers kept by state and federal governments.

Last week, a U.S. judge ordered the state to stop enforcing the ''no match'' law after the NAACP and other groups sued. Florida has appealed the ruling, but on Thursday, a federal appeals court in Atlanta blocked the state's request to lift the injunction. This weekend, the state plans to add to the voter rolls the names of 14,000 people whose initial applications were rejected because of the ''no match'' law.

 http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/359092.html