CAVE: Florida Halts Its Search for Violations of Voter Law

Florida’s attempt to purge ineligible voters from its rolls has been halted, at least for now.

County election officials say they have stopped searching for illegally registered voters because the state’s list of 2,700 voters suspected of being noncitizens is outdated and inaccurate.

“We felt the information wasn’t credible and reliable,” said Vicki Davis, president of the Florida State Association of Supervisors of Elections. “Too many voters on the state’s list turned out to actually be citizens.”

That decision dealt a major setback to state leaders, including Gov. Rick Scott, who have pledged to identify ineligible voters before state primary elections in August.

The United States Department of Justice has ordered Florida to stop the purge, saying states cannot remove voters from their rolls within 90 days of an election.

Also, on Friday, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against Florida over the purge. The group is representing two immigrants who are citizens, but were told they needed to prove their citizenship in order to vote.

State officials acknowledge flaws in their list. Using driver’s license data, they identified 180,000 voters who may not be citizens. They narrowed that list and sent almost 2,700 names to county election supervisors asking them to investigate.

The counties are legally required to give the voters 90 days to prove their citizenship before removing them from their rolls. Voting without being a citizen is a third-degree felony.

But counties say most people on that list have turned out to be legal voters. Many people named on the list have become citizens but have not updated their driver’s licenses.

In Miami-Dade County, for instance, more than 500 of the people on the list have been identified as lawful voters. Only 40 people statewide have been identified as noncitizens, according to the county election supervisors’ association.

State leaders have vowed to find another way to identify and remove ineligible voters. The secretary of state, Ken Detzner, has accused the Department of Homeland Security of illegally denying Florida access to a federal immigration database that could provide more accurate information.

“We’re going to continue to seek out information that will help us identify noncitizens,” said Chris Cate, a spokesman for Mr. Detzner. “Even just one ineligible voter can diminish the vote of someone who should rightfully be able to cast a ballot.”

SOURCE: New York Times