Florida continues with their voter purging plan, despite our warning that eligible citizens could be wrongfully removed from the voter rolls before the upcoming primary and general elections.
“In the last three weeks alone, the Florida secretary of state’s office has identified and started to purge what it says are at least 50,000 dead voters from the state’s rolls and stripped out about 7,000 convicted felons. Officials at the same time are defending a more controversial plan to remove as many as 182,000 suspected noncitizens from the state’s voter rolls,” wrote Janell Ross at the Huffington Post.
“What’s happening now, is not only illegal but it’s inaccurate,” said Katherine Culliton-Gonzalez, director of the Advancement Project’s Voter Protection Project. “There are actual citizens on these lists. So, what’s happening is completely counter to the fundamental principles of our democracy.”
Manoly Castro-Williamson of Pasco County, Bill Internicola of Broward County, and Maureen Russo are all eligible voters who made headlines in the last week because they were wrongfully flagged as noncitizens.
“Some elections supervisors are upset that so many of the names on the list appear to be Hispanic, and that a purging of the voter rolls is taking place so close to the Nov. 6 presidential election,” wrote Steve Bousquet at the Tampa Bay Times.
“Strategically, this may not have been the best timing,” said Seminole County elections supervisor Mike Ertel. “It’s good to make sure the voter rolls are clean, but let’s do it in a way that inspires public confidence.” (Last week, Ertel tweeted a photo of a man who was “incorrectly targeted by the State of Florida as a non-citizen.”)
“In 2000, thousands were purged [from the rolls] in Florida and thousands couldn’t vote,” said Project Vote Media Director Sarah Massey. “We had an election that was ultimately called by the Supreme Court and that just can’t happen again.”
5 Responses to “Citizens Are Wrongfully Targeted in Florida Voter Purge Effort”
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As long as the persons on the potential purge list are given 30 days to respond, what is the problem? If they have moved and have not registered in their new precinct, and thus cannot be located, that is their responsibility. If someone is notified but does not bother to respond, again, that it their responsibility.
I do not understand how a state’s purge of dead citizens, felons, and non-citizens from their voter rolls violates any federal law. Voting is not only a right; it is also a responsibility, and citizens who wish to vote must take steps to help the state keep its voter rolls correct. The state has a responsibility to qualified voters and to candidates to ensure that only legitimate voters are casting votes.
The state also has the responsibility, under federal law, to ensure that no eligible voter is wrongfully purged. As the news reports and the Seminole County election supervisor indicate, this is not happening in Florida. The timing and the method of removing voters is the issue.
The National Voter Registration Act requires state voter purge programs to be implemented no later than 90 days before an election for federal office. The Florida primary for Congressional seats is in less than 90 days and legitimate voters are being called into question. That is why it violates federal law.
Thank you for the explanation of the time requirement in the federal law, Erin. I do see now that Florida is in violation, so the state does have to stop. If there is time after the primary, they can still get the purge done, properly, before the November elections. If not, then they’ll have to wait.
see what texas2step doent know? He was be an individual depending on people like me who actually did serve our country. personally governor scott is lucky my name is not on his purge list, I would kill him in the streets. These republifucs are traitors to the constitution and the flag. You people need to go back to england and kiss the queens ass and leave us real americans alone. To promote other retarded laws to violate real americans is punishable by hanging. Then again, you peopl edont know, much less understand the constitution. Look it up! These laws were afforded to the American people to protect us from true nazi’s like yourselves. If you retards only knew what the nazi’s truly did, you wouldnt open you cum resepticles in the first place as you have followed in their footsteps in full. Good luck, you stolen election may cause your own civil war and slower torturous death. I will see you the day after the election sweetheart.