ACLU Sues Over Florida Voter Purge

The American Civil Liberties Union has sued Florida over Gov. Rick Scott’s voter-list purge.

The purge, being run by Secretary of State Ken Detzner, is intended to keep non-citizens off the voter rolls but has improperly snagged many legitimate voters. The Justice Department says that the purge violates both the Voting Rights Act and the National Voter Registration Act, but Florida officials haven’t backed down.

The ACLU suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, is on behalf of two Florida residents — Murat Limage, a Haitian-American U.S. citizen, and Pamela Gomez, a Dominican-American U.S. citizen — as well as the Mi Familia Vota Education Fund. Detzner is listed as the defendant.

“The illegal program to purge eligible voters uses inaccurate information to remove eligible citizens from the voter rolls,” Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU’s Florida affiliate, said in a statement. “It seems that Governor Scott and his Secretary of State cannot speak without hiding what they mean in political spin. They mislead Floridians by calling their illegal list purge ‘protecting citizen’s voting rights.’”