EXCLUSIVE: Florida Congressman Demands Gov. Rick Scott ‘Immediately Suspend’ Voter Purge'

[Bill USA]

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/05/23/489511/exclusive-florida-congressman-demands-gov-rick-scott-immediately-suspend-voter-purge/


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.

In 1998, Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris hired a private company to create a “scrub list” of duplicate registrations, deceased voters and felons prohibited from voting in Florida. The company’s list, however, was riddled with errors. One person flagged as a felon by the list was actually a Florida judge. A county elections supervisor discovered the list was unreliable when she received an erroneous letter informing her that she was a felon and could not vote. By one estimate, 7000 Florida voters were wrongfully removed from the voter rolls for the 2000 presidential election — 13 times George W. Bush’s margin of victory in that state after the Supreme Court halted the post-election recount.

[JohnWxy]

1. this really demands attention. We can't have another rigged election like that of 2000.

recommended!

[freshwest]

3. Same method all over again, just different faces on the GOPig.

[EFerrari]

7. As soon as the media says it's going to "come down to" one state, the fix is in.

They've already said it about FL this year, as they said it about FL in 2000 and of OH in 2004. We can't say we didn't see it coming.

[pscot]

9. We need a federal election amendment

There was a big fight over this in Philadelphia in 1787. The Constitution gives states control over Federal representation. We're going to need a Constitutional Amendment to change it. There needs to be one national standard for voter registration for Federal offices.

[Ikonoklast]

12. Too important to leave to the states.

One standardized voting form, one registration process, one voting method regardless of jurisdiction.

[lastlib]

2. I think the Department of Justice needs to be watching this.

[duhneece]

4. Watch "American Blackout"

to actually see how votes were 'caged' in Ohio & Florida. An amazing video begins the documentary. Worth watching, I swear...and whatever you think of Cynthia McKinney.


http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5965670944815984616

Chronicles the recurring patterns of disenfranchisement witnessed from 2000 to 2004 while following the story of Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, who not only took an active role in investigating these election debacles but also found herself in the middle of one after publicly questioning the Bush Administration about the 9-11 terrorist attacks

[Smilo]

5. It worked the first time -

and they are even more desperate now than they were in 2000.

Watch this spread to more and more states.

[progressoid]

6. Yep - and it's going to take more than a letter to stop them.

Round up some blood thirsty lawyers and kick some ass.

[Nictuku]

8. K&R (n/t)

[Dont call me Shirley]

10. Katherine Harris must certainly be in on this one. She has so much experience at it.

[Akoto]

11. I live in FL. Scott has been a total mess, and I doubt he'll do as asked.

He seems to love causing misery in one form or another. Cutting social services, voter suppression like this, etc. Usually, it ends up being a waste of time, like when he enforced drug testing for welfare recipients (spoiler alert: the overwhelming majority did not use drugs of any kind).

I am a disabled young man who relies upon SSI and Medicaid to survive. Every day this guy remains in office is a scary one for me.

[Uncle Joe]

13. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Bill USA.

[Nancy Waterman]

14. It is a time-honored Florida tradition to purge Democratic voters

How do you think they got so many votes in Florida in 2000? Then the excuse was that they were felons and shouldn't vote, but in fact they were felons and anyone else whose name or social security number was similar. Now the purge is directed at "illegal aliens" and anyone remotely similar in name or other ID.

[OVERPAID01]

15. Is this even a news story anymore?

Every presidential election Florida purges hundreds of thousands of minority voters through one scam or another, rigging the voting machines just isn't enough in Florida, they have to suppress legitimate voter's access as well.