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Federal judge approves scaled-down Florida voter purge
A voter leaves a polling station after casting his ballot in the Florida Republican presidential primary election in Sarasota, Florida January 31, 2012.
Credit: Reuters/Steve Nesius
TALLAHASSEE, Florida |
TALLAHASSEE, Florida (Reuters) - A federal judge on Thursday dismissed a challenge to Florida's recent voter purge efforts, clearing the way for the removal of about 200 suspected non-U.S. citizens from state voter rolls before the November 6 presidential election.
District Judge William Zloch dismissed the remaining challenges from voter advocacy groups, including the National Congress for Puerto Rican Rights and the Florida Immigrant Coalition.
The plaintiffs had contended Florida's purge efforts violated the National Voter Registration Act, or NVRA, and a federal law against removing voters within 90 days of an election, except under certain special circumstances.
Florida, which is closely divided between Democrats and Republicans, is an important electoral battleground state.
Zloch's ruling affects 198 people believed to be non-U.S. citizens based on a Department of Homeland Security citizenship database. An earlier purge list, containing more than 2,600 names, was cut back sharply due to errors.
"Certainly, the NVRA does not require the state to idle on the sidelines until a non-citizen violates the law before the state can act," Zloch wrote. "And surely the NVRA does not require the state to wait until after that critical juncture - when the vote has been cast and the harm has been fully realized - to address what it views as nothing short of 'voter fraud.'"
Florida election officials, who have defended the state's efforts to remove ineligible voters from the rolls, applauded the ruling.
"We're very pleased another federal court has ruled that Florida's efforts to remove non-citizens from the voter rolls are lawful and in the best interest of Florida voters," Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner said in a statement.
"Ensuring ineligible voters can't cast a ballot is a fundamental aspect of conducting fair elections."
(Editing by Tom Brown and Peter Cooney)
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How does it happen? Vote rigging, voter suppression, gerrymandering districts – it’s a cottage industry in Florida.
It’s also demographics. The elderly (who are starting to wake up, but barely) rubber stamp everything with a little red on it. The military vote (protect my military pension and VA benefits – the most sacred of sacred cows). The Cubans (did they used to be Latinos in some previous incarnation?). And there are a few rich people in Florida – no state income tax.
And it’s race big time. Florida is the South, I mean way South. But it’s mostly apathy, ignorance, disinterest, laziness. It’s also TV.
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