Republican Miami Mayor Opposes Voter Purge, Says It Is ‘Scaring People’ Away From Voting [View all]

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Source: Think Progress

Republican Miami Mayor Opposes Voter Purge, Says It Is ‘Scaring People’ Away From Voting
By Josh Israel on Jun 15, 2012 at 11:01 am


Miami Mayor Tomás Regalado (R) became the latest Florida Republican to buck Gov. Rick Scott (R-FL) yesterday, attacking his error-riddled and likely illegal attempt to purge people his administration said were non-citizen voters from the voter rolls.

In an interview with NPR’s Michel Martin, Regaldo dismissed Scott’s notion that Florida is any kind of haven for wide-spread voter fraud:

REGALADO: I think that in Florida – and especially here in South Florida – we walk a very thin line in terms of communities. I mean, we are a real melting pot. And I think it’s not fair just to use one brush and paint everybody, because the perception that we’re getting throughout the country is that a bunch of Latino people just go out and vote right after getting off the plane or the raft when they come here. And that’s not the case. Problem are, the laws. I mean, you can go and get your voter ID with your driver’s license, and no questions asked. Well, the law has to be changed. But, you know, I doubt that we have a massive fraud going on here in Florida…

MARTIN: Have you expressed that to the governor, who shares your political party?

REGALADO: I have not spoken to the governor. And, you know, and I understand the governor is trying to cater to the conservatives, but that’s not the way to do it. I mean, I don’t see thousands of people not citizens voting here in South Florida. I mean, throughout the years, we have seen in the United States – remember Chicago many years ago – people that were dead voting and all that. But other than that, those are unique cases. I don’t think that there is, like, this massive fraud. What we should do is encourage people to register and vote if you are citizens, because the problem is that all these controversies about voters and investigators and Justice Department and police after the voters is scaring people to vote. The people are going to say, well, it’s too much trouble. So I might as well don’t even bother to vote. And that’s wrong because…

Read more: http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/06/15/500242/republican-miami-mayor-opposes-voter-purge-says-it-is-scaring-people-away-from-voting/