Florida has filed suit against the Department of Homeland Security to obtain access to their databases to aid in the process of purging its voter registration rolls of illegal aliens, convicted felons and the deceased, per Governor Rick Scott:
“I have a job to do to defend the right of legitimate voters,” Scott told Fox News on Monday. “We’ve been asking for the Department of Homeland Security’s database, SAVE, for months, and they haven’t given it to us. So this afternoon, we will be filing a lawsuit, the secretary of State of Florida, against the Department of Homeland Security to give us that database. We want to have fair, honest elections in our state and we have been put in a position that we have to sue the federal government to get this information.”
Florida was put in that position when they began the process of cleaning up the state's voter rolls and received a formal letter from Eric Holder and the Obama Administration's Department of Justice demanding they cease and desist,allegedly because the clean up of the data base violated violated the federal Voting Rights Act (VRA) and the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA).
In response, Governor Rick Scott sent a letter to a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder saying it planned to continue the voter-roll purge, and that he was now seeking the DHS federal database as a part of that push.
Shortly afterwards the DOJ responded and said it was filing suit against the state.
Late Monday, Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez said in a letter to Detzner that “I have authorized the initiation of an enforcement action against Florida in Federal Court.”
“One of Congress’s concerns in enacting the protections of the VRA and NVRA, and one of the Department’s concerns in enforcing federal law as enacted by Congress, is ensuring that state efforts to find and purge ineligible persons from voter registration lists do not endanger the ability of eligible U.S. citizens to register to vote and maintain their voter registration status,” the letter read in part.
In response, Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner filed the lawsuit, filed in Washington, D.C. district court on Monday, shortly after, along with a statement:
“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,” Detzner said. “We can’t let the federal government delay our efforts to uphold the integrity of Florida elections any longer. 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."
Illegal aliens, felons and the deceased are a very necessary Democrat constituency, because they make voter fraud a lot easier. It will be interesting to see where the courts ultimately go with this.
8 comments:
Last time Florida pulled this stunt, they managed to get nearly 100,000 legal voters purged from the rolls. The election came down to 537 votes and Bush became president. I can see why you're so passionate about this issue.
I'm afraid you're a bit fact challenged once again, Roland.The actual voters who were disenfranchised in 2000 were active duty military. The Democrats managed to get almost 5,000 of those votes, which were overwhelmingly Republican disqualified on a technicality with the aid of some Democrat appointed judges.
Read award winning reporter Bill Sammon's book on the subject, 'At Any Cost: How Al Gore Tried to Steal the Election.'
I realize what a source of depression it is, but George W. Bush really did win the 2000 election. My condolences.
Suppressing the votes of active duty military is a pattern with Democrats, as I've documented.They much prefer their natural constituency of illegal aliens, felons and corpses.
Regards,
Rob
Hmm. This is interesting. I present you with facts and you declare that they are not actually facts because you'd rather talk about something else. What you're doing is the equivalent of this:
Me: The sun is hot.
Rob: You are a liar. The moon is cold.
Ok, I'll try again. Even if the Democrats had successfully gotten 5,000 military votes disqualified (a fact) and burned in the public square, it still pales in comparison to the 97,000 votes that Jeb (who apparently you're not a fan of) and his buddies expunged (also a fact).
It was called the Florda Central Voter File. It was kind of a big deal and it was a transparent attempt at the time to introduce Jim Crow through the back door.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_Central_Voter_File
I understand that you were pissed off by the military vote issue. Pissed me off as well. But having some consistency to your outrage would be character-building for you. The Florida Central Voter File and the military ballot issue are not mutually exclusive, you see. And, if you're into making comparisons, I think a child can tell you which number is bigger.
So the lesson I am taking from you is that voter disenfranchisement is bad when it's democrats, good when it's republicans. Gotcha.
PS. I voted for Browne in 2000. My guy was never going to win no matter what happened.
Wrong again I'm afraid, Roland.
I always take Wikipedia very cautiously anyway, since anyone (even you) can edit it to suit their own purposes. But to be fair, I took an in depth look at the link you provided.
Lo and behold, the 97,000 voters you're talking about magically morph to between 1,100 and 2,430, depending on whose counting and how. And some of those were felons who had their rights restored according to the states they used to live in, but not according to Florida law...although a later court decision clarified the issue.
Still not enough to counter act Bush's share of the 5,000 military votes that were disenfranchised.or voter suppression in the heavily Republican Florida panhandle by network calls for Gore while the polls were still open.
Not only that, but what happened in Florida with the Central Voting list was largely inadvertent and sloppy policy rather than a deliberate attempt at fraud and winning at any cost.
The same can't be said of the Democrat's efforts to disenfranchise military voters.Which was and still is deliberate.
Moving right along from 2000 ( you voted for Harry Browne?? Really?), we obviously agree on one thing..voter fraud shouldn't be tolerated.
That being the case, I'm sure you support strict voter ID laws and Florida's efforts to legally purge its system of ineligible voters as well as tighter controls of absentee ballots and the repeal of Bill Clinton's Motor Voter bill..since there are six states currently where illegal aliens can get driver's licenses.
Thanks for your response.
I always take Wikipedia very cautiously anyway, since anyone (even you) can edit it to suit their own purposes.
You should reconsider. Wikipedia's accuracy rate is on par with any encyclopedia. I would trust it over any other source, just as I would trust Intrade over any poll. The wisdom of crowds and the free market.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reliability_of_Wikipedia
What happened in Florida with the Central Voting list was largely inadvertent and sloppy policy rather than a deliberate attempt at fraud and winning at any cost.
Well I'm sure this kind of inadvertent and sloppy policy would never happen again, would it?
Wait! It looks like even the county election supervisors aren't going along with this fraud. They've already found 500 people on a list of 2,700 who are erroneously identified as ineligible. I appreciate your passion about the military ballots, but do you seriously not see the potential for misuse here? Or do you suddenly have faith in the federal government?
This is a law pushed by a republican to keep democrats from going to the polls. Simple as that. Your point about the military ballots is taken. And I totally 100000% agree. But this is the same issue - just with people that you don't care about, thus you're determined to fight them on it.
That being the case, I'm sure you support strict voter ID laws and Florida's efforts to legally purge its system of ineligible voters as well as tighter controls of absentee ballots and the repeal of Bill Clinton's Motor Voter bill..since there are six states currently where illegal aliens can get driver's licenses.
These voter fraud laws consistently and without fail disenfranchise far far far more people than vote commit voter fraud. It's shooting an ant with a bazooka. If you're willing to disenfranchise thousands of black voters so that we can prevent the 30-or-so yearly cases of voter fraud, then you've said all you need to say.
PS- Yes, I voted for Harry Browne. I lived in a red state at the time and my vote wouldn't have mattered. Given the choice between an asshole and an idiot, I made a protest vote for the party that then and now represents my values closer then either parties.
Hello Roland,
First of all, Wikipedia does reasonably well when it deals in straight, factual information ala' 'what's the current population of Australia?' 'Who was Pete Best?' or 'what's a camera obscura?'
When it comes to anything where there's controversy or a political axe of some kind to grind, watch out...because as I said, anyone can edit it.
Your comment 'voter fraud laws consistently and without fail disenfranchise far far far more people than vote commit voter fraud. It's shooting an ant with a bazooka.' reminds me of the Simpson's chief Wiggum's famous line, 'Better a thousand guilty men go free than having to chase after them.'
How much corruption of our electoral process is OK? If you read this link to my article on voter fraud, you'll find that rather than a few isolated cases per tear, it's a much larger, ongoing problem that doesn't get fixed because its become a Democrat campaign strategy and is thus frequently not prosecuted in those locales where it most often occurs...Democrat ruled strongholds.Another telling point is that the Republicans have at least attempted several times in congress to come up with uniform and acceptable standards for purging the rolls. The Democrats have blocked it every time.Just as they've tried to block voter ID laws.
Your point about disenfranchising black voters is interesting.Are you saying that they're not capable enough to get a photo ID (even though they're free for indigents) or that they lack the mental capacity to complain to public officials or politicians as you or I would if we were unjustly denied a ballot?
I credit black voters with as much common sense as myself in dealing with that eventuality.
Considering how the country has been overrun with illegal aliens, considering that in some localities they can get driver's licenses and that in many others a photo ID isn't even necessary and that voter registration forms are mandatory in social services offices, voter fraud is not only a distinct probability but a reality that needs to be dealt with.
I can appreciate why democrats would rather not deal with that, but I think our democracy demands it.
BTW, I didn't vote for Bush or Gore either..I just wrote in someone silly.
Ok. You've made it clear that you're okay with thousands of people being denied a vote because you're worried about vote fraud, even though the laws you want passed would give us a net loss of votes by American citizens.
So no matter how minuscule the problem, we must always overcorrect to a harmful degree. This is what we call throwing the baby out with the bath water. I sure hope no one ever asks you about corporate malfeasance. You'll be advocating communism by day's end.
Car crash on the highway? Shut down the interstate. Death on the operating table? Detonate the hospital.
I can only imagine you at dinner. You think you see a fly in my soup and before I go to inspect what is probably pepper, you pee all over my clam chowder and ask me to thank you.
I can appreciate why democrats would rather not deal with that, but I think our democracy demands it.
Oh please. Did you stick your nose in the air and close your eyes when you wrote that? Everyone knows full well what the republicans are up to here. Each party works as hard as they can to rig the system in their favor. Do you seriously wonder why the democrats would try and block a voter law designed by republicans in an election year?
It all comes down to this. You simply can't and will not argue the clear fact that states like Florida erroneously purges voters, these voters are disproportionately black and the newly-naturalized, these said voters are overwhelmingly democrats, and republicans are crying crocodile tears and creating a fake crisis to keep them from voting.
From the looks of the polls, the voters in Florida aren't buying it. And anyone with a high school diploma would (I hope) be able to add up the numbers and come to the only logical conclusion.
How about this? Find us an instance of voter fraud (good luck with that) and we'll lock up 500 democrats on election day. Still won't make a difference.
Hello Roland,
At this point we're simply talking past each other and your resort to the two dirt common Leftist talking points, 'voter fraud is miniscule' and 'everybody knows what the Republicans are up to here, the usual racism' proves you have no real argument.
Ok. You've made it clear that you're okay with thousands of people being denied a vote because you're worried about vote fraud, even though the laws you want passed would give us a net loss of votes by American citizens.
You have absolutely no proof of that, aside from ONE instance you cited that maybe resulted in at most 2,000 people being struck off the rolls by mistake. ( remember when we started and it was '97,00'?)
Notice I said perhaps 2,000 people being struck off the rolls by mistake, not 2,000 votes. Because there's no evidence these people WANTED to vote and were DENIED the vote.
You see Roland, you didn't want to touch my argument that black voters
(or any voters, for that matter)are just as able as you or I to make waves and contact local government, lawyers or politicians if they're illegally denied a ballot if they wish to, which you find out when you don,t receive your sample ballot. For that matter, even if you don't find out you're ineligible until you go to vote, you can still cast your ballot provisionally in all 50 states, where it will be held until your right to cast that ballot is decided.
Like most people on the left, you suffer from the racism of low expectations.
On the other hand, the military votes I'm talking about actually were tossed out, were subsequently suppressed by the thousands repeatedly to the point Congress passed a law which the Obama Administration then sabotaged in the 2010 midterms. And I gave plenty of other examples of voter fraud in the link I referred you to. Here it is again.
You can't really win here because you're arguing in favor of ignoring the law and making it easier for people to cheat for partisan advantage as opposed to enforcing our laws and plugging some existing loopholes used to break them with impunity.
It's obvious you're either incapable of seeing the difference or unwilling to.
The Democrats NEED voter fraud to win elections, simple as that.
And by the way, you can't lock up people for voter fraud when Democrat attorney generals refuse to prosecute or even investigate.I documented that as well.
Further discussion on this topic is obviously pointless, but thanks for dropping by.
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