(MintPress) – As voter fraud becomes an increasingly debated issue in Florida, the state and federal governments have filed lawsuits against each other, each claiming the other side is using information improperly discouraging more than 182,000 people from voting, most of whom are minorities and the disenfranchised.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) sent a letter to the Florida Secretary of State June 6 in regards to the state’s purging of as many as 182,000 people from voter rolls. The DOJ claims that the voter verification program violates federal statutes.
In retaliation, the state of Florida filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Monday, saying the federal agency did not allow the state to access information pertaining to individuals who might not be eligible to vote.
«For nearly a year, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has failed to meet its legal obligation to provide us the information necessary to identify and remove ineligible voters from Florida’s voter rolls,» Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner said in a statement. «We’ve filed a lawsuit to ensure the law is carried out and we are able to meet our obligation to keep the voter rolls accurate and current.»
The Justice Department is suing the state of Florida for violating two federal laws preventing states from suppressing voters, including the National Voter Registration Act, which requires state governments to allow registered voter status when applying for or renewing a driver’s license or social services.
However, Florida Gov. Rick Scott defended the actions of the state and maintained the need to sue the federal government.
«I have a job to do to defend the right of legitimate voters,» Scott said. «We want to have fair honest elections in our state and so we have been put in the position we have to sue the federal government to get this information.»
The details
State lawyers have alleged that DHS did not give Florida access to the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements Program database (SAVE), the program which stores information about potentially ineligible voters in the state. State officials maintain that the federal government is required to give access to the immigration database.
Homeland Security has stated that the state of Florida is not providing enough information — only a name or birthday — to prove a match in the database. Justice officials state that Florida has already acknowledged that it does not have the correct data.
It is unlikely that Florida’s lawsuit against the federal government will affect the majority of the state since nearly all of the county supervisors in Florida are no longer trying to block or remove any potential non-U.S. citizens from the voter roll.
Background
In May, an investigation into eligible voters found that 2,600 registered voters in Florida were believed to be non-citizens, according to Florida election officials. After the finding, the officials stated they would review an additional 180,000 names in order to cut down on voter fraud. Florida has nearly 12 million people on its voting rolls.
According to African Americans and Hispanic Americans in Florida, authorities have sent letters in order to confirm immigration status, with some residents worried there will not be enough time to clear the confusion before local legislative elections Aug. 14 and the presidential election Nov. 6.
According to state officials, those who do not return the immigration confirmation letters could be removed from the list, whether they are citizens or not.
Hundreds of the recipients have turned out to be legal citizens, and only 86 non-citizens have been removed from the voter rolls since April 11.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has also voiced its concern over Florida’s voter practices, including Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida.
“The governor’s claim that he needs information from the Department of Homeland Security to justify his illegal purge of voters is an acknowledgement that he was using bad data and kicking eligible citizens off the voter rolls in the first place.”