In Florida, Bid to Cut Voter Rolls Is Set Back
By LIZETTE ALVAREZ, NYT, APRIL 2, 2014
MIAMI — Gov. Rick Scott’s effort to remove voters who are not American citizens from voter registration rolls, a subject of continuing political controversy, has suffered a one-two punch in the past week.
On Tuesday, a federal appeals court ruled that Florida violated the National Voter Registration Act in trying to “systematically” remove noncitizen voters from the rolls within 90 days of the 2012 presidential election. In the 2-to-1 decision, the judges said that the 90-day provision existed for a reason: to protect citizens from being unfairly denied their right to vote.
“Eligible voters removed days or weeks before Election Day will likely not be able to correct the state’s errors in time to vote,” the court ruled.
The program to identify and remove noncitizens from the rolls prompted a national outcry and several lawsuits in 2012 because it was riddled with mistakes and was being pushed through months before the election. A number of people on the lists, which were sent by the state to county election supervisors, were, in fact, citizens (including the two lead plaintiffs in the lawsuit).
Election supervisors refused to continue the program, saying the lists, which were created using a driver’s license database, were inaccurate. Only a few voters out of thousands were found to be wrongly registered to vote.
(More here.)
MIAMI — Gov. Rick Scott’s effort to remove voters who are not American citizens from voter registration rolls, a subject of continuing political controversy, has suffered a one-two punch in the past week.
On Tuesday, a federal appeals court ruled that Florida violated the National Voter Registration Act in trying to “systematically” remove noncitizen voters from the rolls within 90 days of the 2012 presidential election. In the 2-to-1 decision, the judges said that the 90-day provision existed for a reason: to protect citizens from being unfairly denied their right to vote.
“Eligible voters removed days or weeks before Election Day will likely not be able to correct the state’s errors in time to vote,” the court ruled.
The program to identify and remove noncitizens from the rolls prompted a national outcry and several lawsuits in 2012 because it was riddled with mistakes and was being pushed through months before the election. A number of people on the lists, which were sent by the state to county election supervisors, were, in fact, citizens (including the two lead plaintiffs in the lawsuit).
Election supervisors refused to continue the program, saying the lists, which were created using a driver’s license database, were inaccurate. Only a few voters out of thousands were found to be wrongly registered to vote.
(More here.)
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