Florida Voter Purge of Latino Voters in Full Swing

In a prior Post here I asked the question: "Does voter suppression have a new target?" in which were highlighted the changing demographics of Latino voters,  Here are some follow-up stories.


See also the post on state by state voting rights and on who may vote in the various states.

Florida Congressman Demands Gov. Rick Scott "Immediately Suspend" Voter Purge

Thursday, 24 May 2012 09:26By Ian Millhiser and Judd Legum, ThinkProgress | Report

Florida Congressman Ted Deutch (D) told ThinkProgress today that Gov. Rick Scott was engaging in a “blatant attempt to supress voter turnout.” Scott is currently involved in a massive effort to purge up to 180,000 from the voting rolls. The list, purportedly of non-citizens, has proven unreliable. Earlier this week, Seminole County Supervisor of Elections Mike Ertel, a Republican, posted a picture on Twitter of a voter on the list falsely identified as ineligible, with his passport.

Congressman Deutch said that his office has heard from several constituents who have recieved a voting ineligibility letter in error. In light of these errors, Deutch will soon send a letter to Scott demanding the purge be immediatly suspended. An excerpt:

It is out of grave concern that we write to ask for the immediate suspension of the Florida Division of Elections’ directive that county supervisors of elections purge up to 180,000 names from Florida’s voter rolls in advance of the November 2012 elections.

While we all agree that the right to vote should be reserved only to those who are eligible, any process that could strip Floridians of their voting rights should be conducted with the utmost caution and transparency, and certainly not within six months of a major federal election and within 90 days of the primary. Providing a list of names with questionable validity – created with absolutely no oversight – to county supervisors and asking that they purge their rolls will create chaotic results and further undermine Floridians’ confidence in the integrity of our elections. A rushed process will undermine both Florida and federal law requiring voter rolls to be maintained in a uniform and nondiscriminatory manner.

The letter was circulated to the entire Florida Congressional delegation and Deutch expects several of his colleagues to sign on. Deutch noted that while Florida has “no history of mass voter fraud” it does have a history of “mass voter disenfranchisement” that proceeded the presidential election in 2000. [See Truthout for the rest of this story]

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/05/20/2809298/floridas-voter-purge-a-drive-for.html#storylink=cpy

The  process of finding non-citizens is not easy.  According to the Miami Herald: To make a noncitizen-voter match, the state compares the voter rolls with Florida’s Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicle database, which includes citizenship information when a person gets identification, such as a driver’s license, from the agency. But the highway safety database isn’t updated once an immigrant becomes a lawful citizen. So the citizenship data of thousands can be outdated. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has refused to give Florida access to its databases that can make the process more accurate.

Six civil rights and voting rights organizations sent a letter Thursday to Secretary of State Ken Detzner asking him to stop the purge or he will risk a lawsuit.  The groups contend federal law bars the state from removing voters from the rolls less than 90 days before a federal election. Florida's primary will be held Aug. 14.

And this from the Daily Kos

MAY 24, 2012 AT 10:24 AM PDT

Florida begins MASSIVE voter purge in early bid to steal Presidency before elections

byMinistryOfTruthFollow

This has EVERYTHING to do with the fact that Florida is a swing state. This has everything to do with stopping citizens from being able to vote. This has EVERYTHING to do with voter

 supression. Denying your countrymen their right to a vote, brought to you by the Republican Party.

. . . in this election, “Governor Scott wants to play the role of Katherine Harris.”

Katherine Harris, of course, was the Florida Secretary of State who helped George W. Bush "win" Florida and the Presidential election of 2000 after Bush v Gore was decided 5-4 by the Supreme Court in the most activist thing any American court had ever done at the time. According to ThinkProgress.org one estimate from 2000 said that 7,000 voters were wrongfully removed from the rolls of eligible voters, 88% of whom were African-American. Al Gore won 92% of the African-American vote in Florida in 2000

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/05/24/2815775/groups-call-on-florida-to-halt.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/05/20/2809298/floridas-voter-purge-a-drive-for.html#storylink=cpy