What purpose is served by preventing a state from keeping its voting records accurate?
In Florida, the secretary of state's office has been requesting access to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement database for almost a full year in order to remove "illegal aliens and non-citizens off Florida voter rolls," Chris Cate, a Florida Division of Elections spokesman, explained to the Reuters news agency.
The Department of Homeland Security that maintains the database has "been dragging its feet and has yet to comply with the request and now, the Department of Justice is stepping into the purging process," Reuters reported.
According to Cate, access to the database is necessary "to vet a list of 180,000" voters whose citizenship needs to be verified for them to remain among Florida's active voters. The list was established using records from Florida's Division of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles and current voter rolls.
At least 2,600 people have been confirmed to have been given voter rights despite the fact that they are in the country illegally. Of those, almost 1,600 live in Miami-Dade County, Reuters reported.
The Department of Justice, seeing that Florida is moving forward with its voter roll clean-up despite the Homeland Security department's lack of cooperation, has intervened, issuing a letter to Secretary of State Ken Detzner warning the state not to purge the thousands of illegal immigrants, dead people and felons until the process is approved under the Voting Rights Act and to "immediately stop" any such activity. The department also filed a lawsuit aimed at the Sunshine State.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott said in an interview, "This is not a partisan issue ... This is protecting the rights of U.S. citizens and not diluting their vote by non-U.S. citizens. When non-U.S. citizens register to vote and vote, it is illegal. It's a crime and it shouldn't be happening in our great state. We're trying to fix our voters' rolls, and they're trying to stop us. It doesn't make any sense."
So, the state of Florida has been trying for almost a year to confirm those registered to vote through use of a database to which access already should have been granted. The state now has been sued to prevent the verification process.
Doing right is never wrong ... unless political power is threatened.
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Hmm, 2,600 CONFIRMED illegally registered voters. Less than that has decided many elections even a presidential one.
The Department of Homeland Security has had Florida's request for data for a year in order to purge it's voter rolls and Holder and his crowd has warned and filed suite to stop the sate of Florida from protecting the voter rights of it's citizens.
Hmm, one might think the Obamination administration wants and needs thousands of illegal votes in the next election.
You're a moron.
I see absolutely no reason why people who are not legal citizens of the United States should ever be allowed to vote under any circumstances. I see no reason why the Federal Gov't should block attempts for the state of Florida or any state to make sure legal citizens vote. Go to another country yourself and without applying for citizenship and being documented and see how voter-friendly they are to you. It is totally dishonorable for illegal persons to be allowed to vote and dishonorable for all who protect them.
conservative: Confirmed illegally registered?
Nope. 500 of them have actually proven they were lawfully registered. Huh, never going to admit that, are you?
Livn4life: There are some reasons, such as property ownership where a person would have the right to vote. But here's a reason: Because Florida's efforts are flawed, and with 500 already proven to be actual legitimate voters, maybe you ought to be recognizing that.
What's totally dishonorable is your hypocritical attempt to avoid admitting, the same as this editorial fails to admit it, that such measures if done to a person who is a lawful voter, is as criminal as putting an innocent person in jail for a crime they didn't commit.
Have you never heard the phrase that it's better 100 guilty men go free than 1 innocent man be put in prison?
Do you have no understanding of how your abuse of the system in the name of righteousness destroys any pretense to justice? A false appeal to virtue is worse than no virtue at all.
This editorial just LIED anyway. Those 2600 people have NOT been confirmed to be illegally in this country, many of them were just minor errors of no great importance. 500 of the people who have received the notice HAVE shown they were entitled to vote.
Why didn't this editorial mention it?
Because you are dishonest liars. Either that or you are so grossly ignorant of the facts that you've admitted you are fools to speak when you know so little.
Do you have no respect for yourselves that you make such a obvious mistake?
You did wrong.
WRONG.
WRONG.
WRONG.
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