Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Florida: State Is Sued Again Over Voter Purge



New York Times


A second lawsuit was filed in federal court in Miami on Tuesday against the State of Florida over its search of voter rolls for noncitizens. Several civil and voters’ rights groups joined in the suit, which says the search violates the National Voting Rights Act and the National Voter Registration Act. The groups said the review discriminates against minorities and is prohibited within 90 days of an election. Florida has a primary in August. The state is also being sued by the Department of Justice. Earlier this year, the state sent names of 2,700 possible noncitizens to county election supervisors, who were advised to write those people, asking them to offer proof of citizenship or risk being dropped from the rolls. But the list, compiled by comparing voter rolls to a driver’s license databank and overwhelmingly singled out minorities, was found to be flawed. The state has asked the Department of Homeland Security to allow it to use an immigration database to verify the list, but the federal government has not done so. As a result, Florida is suing Homeland Security over access to the database. The civil rights groups say they hope their suit deters other states from conducting similar searches.

1 comment:

  1. I would have to ask if it is prohibited 90 days from a MAJOR election? Also, some people may not be aware of this, but if you are accidentally purged from the roles, you can still vote. It is called Affidavit. Sometimes if you haven't voted in a very long time, you might be purged as inactive. Should non-citizens have a right to vote? I lean more to a "No".

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