Intro: "Local election supervisors were informed this week that Florida plans to restart its controversial voter purge prior to the November 6 election."

Rick Scott's Florida voter purge program is seen as an effort by Republicans to get an edge at the ballot box. (photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Florida to Restart Voter Purge Prior to Presidential Election

By Judd Legum and Josh Israel, ThinkProgress

13 September 12

ocal election supervisors were informed this week that Florida plans to restart its controversial voter purge prior to the November 6 election. In a detailed PowerPoint presentation obtained by ThinkProgress, Governor Rick Scott's Department of State lays out the plan.

The initial purge effort, conducted in May, informed hundreds of fully eligible U.S. citizens that Florida believed they were ineligible to vote. Among those targeted was a 91-year-old World War II veteran.

Election officials were told to expect a revised lists of voters for possible removal in two to three weeks but "not later than October 15, 2012."

The presentation outlines a proceedure to "update" their flawed purge list by cross-checking it against a federal Department of Homeland Security database (SAVE). This task is apparently being done by hand and has not been completed since there is "no established automated process yet."

The Florida Department of State acknolwedges that, in many cases, the federal SAVE database will not establish definitively whether or not someone is a U.S. citizen. In that case, they are directing election officials to mail them letters to "re-affirm registration status" and "remind them of eligibility requirements and that it is illegal to be registered and vote when someone is not a U.S. citizen."

Volusia County Supervisor of Elections Ann McFall, a Republican who was recently informed of new purge, told ThinkProgress:

We're 55 days in front of a huge election. It just doesn't help us whatsoever. I went through the SAVE training today-it's the most convoluted thing you've ever seen in your life. It's awful.

Even if they got the list of names to us tomorrow, there wouldn't be time. That person has due process. Anyone has due process in the state and country.

Florida claims that the purge proceedures they outline "is not subject to the 90-day moratorium preceding a federal election." The Department of Justice disputes that interpretation and has sued Florida to stop the purge.

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+29 # MJnevetS 2012-09-13 07:33

We are now within the 90 day Federal moratorium preceding a Federal election. The problem is that there seems to be no adverse CONSEQUENCES to state political actors who ignore Federal law.

+26 # Citizen Mike 2012-09-13 08:35

We need a contingent of Federal Marshals to go to Florida to forcibly prevent this voter purge, just as Federal marshals were sent to Arkansas to enforce school desegregation. I think that federal authorities should completely take over the administration of elections in Florida and arrest or detain state officials who obstruct them.

+8 # aitengri 2012-09-13 10:12

Very good suggestion! Better than my own first impulse to say "Purge the purgers". BTW, just look at the insane hard lines in Scott's face, a paradigm of rigid right wing "fascia mortis" (think, "rigor mortis").

+21 # Mamazon 2012-09-13 08:44

I pity the Floridians who are unjustly denied their right to vote... Rick Scott should be recalled! He is a traitor to democracy.

+15 # SpyderJan 2012-09-13 09:51

Quoting Mamazon:

I pity the Floridians who are unjustly denied their right to vote... Rick Scott should be recalled! He is a traitor to democracy.

I am a Floridian, and I agree that Rick Scott should be dealt with, I don't think a recall is harsh enough. He should be impeached or arrested at the very least.

+10 # TrueAmericanPatriot 2012-09-13 10:16

Enough is enough! Forget about recalls; SEND THE ARROGANT SCUMBAG TO JAIL IN STAINLESS STEEL BRACELETS!! THAT'S how he needs to be DEALT WITH at this point!! PRISON is where he and many more rethuglicans SHOULD BE!

+11 # Buddha 2012-09-13 10:16

Can't get clearer proof that the GOP knows its policies are reviled and would lead to them losing not just the Presidential Election, but likely the House and Senate too, than them having to engage in widespread voter suppression in swing-states.

+7 # tswhiskers 2012-09-13 11:07

I've said this before but will say it again. It's too late for this election but for the sake of future elections, whether at the federal of state level, the states need to be made to appoint a nonpartisan individual, NOT the Secretary of state, to run elections in each state. In every election since 2000 Secretaries of State have been extremely partisan. This must stop. The only way I can think of to guarantee fair state and federal elections is to have them managed by people who are not party hacks.

+4 # Mamazon 2012-09-13 17:03

Veru good point -- but who/what decides who is non-partial enough to be appointed? The capacity for corruption is just everywhere in politics.
And it's not too late for this election cuz it hasn't happened yet. If I stop believing that anything is possible -- it might be too hard to give a damn. And we need people to give a damn and VOTE like our lives depend on it as it probably does (can you say pre-existing condition?).

+3 # ABen 2012-09-14 03:42

If Rethugs such as Scott are successful in skewing the recorded vote in their states, look for some seriously upset voters in the streets. The attempts to suppress votes in Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin are blatantly unethical and obviously partisan. Too many people fought (and died) for the right to vote for these attacks on universal suffrage to go unanswered. the Rethugs should remember that paybacks can be very harsh.

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