Can you imagine getting a letter from a official in your state telling you that your name is being removed from the voter rolls. The letter would inform you that if you wished to vote, you must prove your citizenship. Well, that's what's happening to 182,000 registered voters in the state of Florida.
In case you missed it, the state of Florida under the "leadership" of Republican Governor Rick Scott sought to purge 182,000 registered voters from the voting rolls in violation of provisions in the Voters Rights Act, the National Voter Registration Act, and other long standing laws.
The U.S. Department of Justice has ordered the state of Florida to halt its purge of suspected non-U.S. citizens from its voter rolls, Talking Points Memo reports.
A letter from the Civil Rights Division was delivered to Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner, ordering a halt to the review of some 182,000 registered voters across all 67 of the state’s counties. The reason: five of those counties are subject to restrictions under the Voting Rights Act, and the DOJ has not pre-cleared the purge.
The move comes the same week a judge blocked part of Florida’s broad voter law, which shortened the early vote period, and imposed a 48 hour time limit for organizations who register voters in the state to turn in those registrations, or face stiff fines or even criminal charges. U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle called for a temporary halt to the time limit portion of the law, which had prompted major organizations like the League of Women Voters and Rock the Vote to cease voter registration efforts in the state.
I'm wondering if history will repeat itself and the state of Florida will help to steal a presidential election as it did in 2000's Bush v. Gore. By one estimate, 7000 Florida voters were wrongfully removed from the voter rolls for the 2000 presidential election — 13 times George W. Bush’s margin of victory in that state after the U.S. Supreme Court halted the post-election recount.
If you want to know more about Rick Scott, who has been called "the Bernie Madoff of health care", read my post "Rick Scott; A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing?".
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