In case you missed Rachel's segment on the issue last night, here's the latest out of the Sunshine State. The Justice Department demanded last week that Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) halt its voter-purge efforts, arguing that process has not been cleared under the Voting Rights Act and violated the National Voter Registration Act. Yesterday, the Scott administration responded.
Gov. Rick Scott's election's chief on Wednesday defiantly refused a federal demand to stop purging non-citizens from Florida's voter rolls, intensifying an election-year confrontation with President Barack Obama's administration as each side accuses the other of breaking federal law.
In a sharply worded letter, Scott's administration claimed the Department of Justice doesn't understand two federal voting laws at the heart of the dispute and was protecting potentially illegal voters more than legal ones.
Florida also accused another federal agency, the Department of Homeland Security, of violating the law by denying Florida access to a federal citizenship database.
MSNBC published the Scott administration's response here.
So, where do things stand as of this morning? The Justice Department believes the Republican voter purge in Florida is violating the law. Rick Scott and his team don't care what the Justice Department believes, effectively dared federal officials to take the matter to court, and said the Obama administration is violating the law by refusing to help with the voter purge.
Remember, at issue here is the Florida GOP's effort to purge non-citizens from the voting rolls -- an effort that has relied on bad data and had the effect of targeting thousands of eligible citizens. Scott says the voter-suppression scheme, launched just five months before the election, is necessary to prevent voter fraud, but not only has he cast far too wide a net, voter fraud is practically a myth in the state.
There is, however, a catch. They're called Florida's county election supervisors.
As Rachel explained last night:
"Here is a wild card, though: Rick Scott's administration can't actually directly kick voters off the rolls. They're not in charge of the rolls. All they can do is send purge lists to the counties, to county election supervisors, and tell the people who work at the county level that they're supposed to kick people off the rolls.
"It is up to the county, to the county officials, to actually do the purging, because they're responsible for elections in their counties. And lately the county officials in Florida are not much in a mood for what the state is telling them to do. On Friday, local elections officials in Florida announced that they would be discontinuing the state directed voter purge, because they found the state's data to be flawed. Oh, and also, there was that whole thing where the Justice Department said what the state's doing is illegal.
"The president of the state's association of supervisors of elections told the Palm Bach Post on Friday that the Justice Department's letter and mistakes that the county elections officials had found in the state's purge list, frankly, made the purge undoable: 'There are just too many variables with this entire process at this time for supervisors to continue.'
"Rick Scott can thumb his nose at the Justice Department, but he cannot force local elections officials in Florida to carry out his voter purge."
Finally, it's also worth noting that Rick Scott's voter-suppression efforts included harsh new restrictions on voter-registration drives. Last week, a federal judge struck down those restrictions, and as a result, the League of Women Voters has renewed its election-year efforts.
Leave a Comment:
Finally! Some sanity in Florida. Way to go, county election officials.
And what's so great is that the above election supervisor is a Republican. She's holding to her beliefs, but doing her job as the LAW directs, not as Little Scottie would have her do.
The Republican Party is increasingly engaging in and tolerating vicious, Nazi-style behavior that takes dead aim at the basic rights of Americans enshrined in our founding documents. The GOP's master plan of making it harder to vote is bad enough. but Rick Scott's brazen and truly evil strategy of literally throwing legitimate voters off of the rolls and barring them from polling places just because thev are black, brown, independents or Democrats is the most insidious and anti-American thing we've seen since Jim Crow. I say to the DOJ, arrest Rick Scott if he does not stop his madness. http://www.sunstateactivist.org
State's rights advocates would argue that the state has the authority over elections. Of course they would also claim authority over immigration,labor, and basically anything. State by state the right is destroying the rights of individuals and as we saw in Wisconsin-they are getting away with it.
By the way is your local library tossing out "old" books? Hee hee hee. Yes dear the far right religious movement is very Nazi like. Oooops I forgot, using terms like Nazis or Hitler is considered a no no.
Has anyone considered the possibility that Gov Scott WANTS the DOJ to bring suit against Florida? Once the suit against the Voting Rights bill gets into court, the losing side will appeal, all the way to the SCOTUS. And once the law is up for judicial review, what are the chances that the Roberts court will uphold the bill. After all, allowing non-white, non-property owners to vote is completely against the views of the Founding Fathers. As Paul Ryan said, it's time to re-litigate the Enlightenment. We can't have any of these new-fangled progressive ideas (like voting rights) mucking up our lives.
What? Are you suggesting that the hallowed halls of justice are no longer true to their cause of guarding the Constitution? You dare imply that Roberts is using his authority to further republican causes rather than to rule according to laws and precedents? My, my have you no shame!
SCOTUS is now the Republican Board of Directors and Fox News is their PR Firm.
I don't see what the fuss is all about! Open the polls early, let anybody who wants to vote cast a ballot. After all, Diebold still supplies the machinery. . .
(For those with short term memory loss, check out this:http://www.blackboxvoting.org/)
We do things differently down south.
We never really count the votes, after all everyone is a republican anyway.
The Republicans have no idea what they are doing, but I can tell what they will eventually stir up if they continue this garbage.
In times past, denying a person or a group of people the right to vote would be considered just cause to start tearing it up. And when a state governor does it? That's basically state sponsored terrorism. And of course, he backs it up with guns, militias and vigilantes and corrupt press organizations (ahem, Faux Noise).
As far as I'm concerned, the right-wing had best watch it. They are swimming dangerously close to a precipice.
In case no one has noticed, the Second Civil War is already underway. This time we had best make sure they don't get to keep their rifles for hunting and their horses for the spring planting. And this time, the Robert E. Lees need hanging.
If you want slime, go to Florida. It's a trend-setter.
When I was younger I used to think that once you won your rights, they were permanent. Older and wiser (I hope) now, I realize that if you are not an entitled member of the one percent, you must fight for them constantly, and we have a template for doing just that, the Constitution. It provides a way for us to, in spite of any and all obstacles, demand our rights and even determine what they will be. The pall of fear after 911 diminished that power, but only temporarily, and I think that is what the Bush Administration will most be remembered for, scaring America into giving up some of their rights for a false sense of security. Governor Scott thinks he is right in doing this? I doubt that. He seems smarter than that, but you never know about Florida politicians.
Ahhh-the righties are just trying to see if we are ready to fight for our rights again.
As I have aged I have concluded that the right wingers need to roll in the muddy sty of hatred and bigotry in order to rid themselves of ticks and ward of the flies and gnats. They are equal opportunity haters though and care far more about being able to direct their fear and hatred at others than they do about who they direct it at.
If there were only right wingers left in this world half of them would make a sharp left turn just so the fear and hatred would survive!
Another thought occurs: What Governor Scott is asking these supervisors to do is to cede some of their decision making power back to him. It is very encouraging to see that they are reluctant to do so.
That's OK for now, but next we'll start hearing about SuperPAC money pouring into elections for county boards of election (or whatever system they have) in Florida. By 2016 - not just a presidential eleciton, but also when Rubio (who got less than 50% in 2010) is up for reeelction - voter purges will sail through without anyone raising a fuss.
The thing you have to remember about Republicans is: They. Do. Not. Stop.
It's funny. In any other democratic (with a small d) country in the world purges like this would be considered voter fraud... By the way I'm Danish but do have a general interest in American politics...
I'm curious. I have the feeling that Republicans in America are embarrassing the United States. (They certainly embarrass me as an American.) Do you see it that way? Do you think that's the general impression of people in Europe?
@Disgusted - Most of the Europeans thought Americans had lost their minds with the election of Shrub in 2004. Enter Barack Obama 2009 - he won, they thought Americans learned their lesson and were more than willing to "welcome US" back to sanity! Most of the Europeans that I know are asking why Americans haven't started protesting at the GOP intransigence and complete & utter lack of knowledge and their eagerness at committing "voter fraud" on WE the PEOPLE.
I'd love to protest, but the hockey/hoops playoffs are taking up all my time. Then comes American Idol, Dancing, and the show with people eating bugs. No time, no time. . .(where's my disability check?)
Are you European, Zora?
Bush was a complete embarrassment. I can only imagine the humor it brought to Europeans to watch that buffoon act out his nearly daily stupidities.
The problem Obama caused of his own accord was his insistence to go "bipartisan" when it was clear to anybody alive in the last 20 years, there was not a snowball's chance in hell there would be anybody on the Republican side to return the gesture. That's where he went completely off the rails. And, of course, he's essentially a Clinton Democrat and the problem with that is that Clinton bought into too many of the failed conservative ideas of the last 30+ years (to wit, deregulation and "free" markets).
As an American, I've been embarrassed (and, to be blunt, sickened) by Republicans for a long, long time. And I've for a long time just assumed the rest of the world would look at the situation and objectively see the Republicans as the obnoxious, wrong-headed, ideological fools that they are. Most of those not from here that I know do see it that way. But there are some, from former Warsaw Pact countries, that were some of the most nauseating Republicans that I had ever come into contact with.
Still interested to hear from as many non-Americans as I can.
Definitely! I have many friends in Europe who think Americans must be going nuts.
Going nuts because of the audacity and obnoxiousness of the Republicans driving them to insanity? Or going nuts because Americans are all as stupid as Republicans?
Disgusted, no I'm not European, I'm American - frustrated, disgusted, and mad as hell by the GOP and the sheeple that support them at the expense of their own "kitchen table"! I have friends that are European, and oh how I dreaded the jokes, but sometimes all you can do is laugh at the absurdity, ignorance, and hubris on the right.
And yes, I will agree with you at this point I hate the word "bi-partisanship" - but at the same time, I really think that the President actually believed these people would be willing to work for the best interests of this nation. And I think he wanted all Americans to see that every time he reached out - the GOP spit in his hand and at some point the American people would "get it" and wake up and see what is really going on. Unfortunately, that hasn't happened, and after watching the sheeple in Wisconsin vote against their own interests in re-electing Walker - I can only presume that it must get much more worse on "the majority" before they are willing to take off their blinders to a party ideology vs. the common good for US all. And even as I write that down I am saddened and disgusted by the ignorance and bigoted blindness that has captured the brains of the sheeple.
I find it hard to believe NO gop county officials are doing scotts bidding on this , I'm thinking scotty is going to send his own officials to do the job if people refuse to do his bidding , especially in blue counties
Does the governor Florida have that power?
I do not know those details , but I imagine the gov of Florida can do pretty much any thing he wants , and we all know he could care less if it is legal on the federal level ....The way these gop think , I would imagine they will find a way around their own county election officials , and of course they will do it in a way that it will make it impossible to fix before the election , I am just speculating , but this is the gop , and this is the south the DOJ are dealing with
The local Supervisors of Election are balking because all but a couple must be elected too and they, regardless of their party, take the position that their lists are their lists a position which makes perfect sense as the lists are the foundation stone of their operations. They also have a very firm legal foundation to stand on as they, like the Governor, are Constitutional Officers of the State.
this is a positive thing.
So this basically confirms that if the GOP doesn't "win" on their own merits, they're more than willing to cheat & steal. We already know that they're liars and obstructionists. Jail Scott for defying a federal order.
My good friend, who is a Constitutional Scholar employed by Americans For Prosperity, assures me that no where in the Constitution is there an explicit right to vote for Democrats.
We're engaged in a war that is worldwide and against those who hate our freedoms.
Hence conspiracy to deny the freedoms of American citizens automatically makes you an enemy combatant on the worldwide battlefield.
Where are the Predator Drones?
Haven't you been watching FOX? They are flying over the Mid-West! Go see GAME OF DRONES on the Daily Show.
Game of Drones
Despite the lack of Hellfire missiles, Fox News likens the EPA's aerial drones to those used by the military in the war on terror. (06:02)
http://signon.org/sign/defend-florida-citizens
I am so tired of all the polticial bs that has been going back and forth for decades. Remember the hanging chads, well looks like we are trying for another episode of "who can outdo the other idiot". This really needs to stop we need smart people in DC who can help bring us out of this global recession and finger pointing, non communication will not do it. Something has to give. Let FL lead and not implode this time around, please
I guess the memory of Gov. Scott as a criminal has gone down the rabbit hole. He is being used as a "front man" for the corporate takeover of our country. I'm not a tin hat conspiracy freak, even tho there are a few good ones floating about, but look at the republican controlled State Houses. There is a connection, and ALEC, seems to be the hub.
Rachael, the lying of Mitt Romney is a Mormon Pioneer Thing, I live among them for over 30 years, no good thing to do business with a Mormon, there first priority is the Church, I cannot imagine Mitt governing without him going to his Elders and following their order. Scary
As George Carlin so famously said: Florida, that's where everything's in the eighties, the temperature, the ages and the I.Q.'s...
What was originally announced as an indication of 182,000 illegal voters based on an egregiously bad analysis of DMV records dropped to FL Sec'y of State to 2600 illegal voters in several FL counties, and subsequently to approximately 40 people who voted illegally as of June 8, 2012.
The Governor and FL Sec'y of State then said they had to use the faulty DMV records which only record citizenship information since 2010 to comply with Federal requirements and that Homeland Security would not give them access to federal information.
Apparently the Governor and Sec'y of State were unaware that FL driver licenses are good for six years, which meant that FL driver license applications have no verification of driver citizenship for years 2007, 2008, 2009, and part of 2010 because the state never asked for it.
The FL Governor and Sec'y of State have three problems. The first is that Homeland Security only has citizenship information for individuals who apply for visas to enter the U.S., apply for U.S. citizenship, apply for a U.S. passport, or have been subject to investigation by Homeland Security and its' many agencies. Homeland Security does not have citizenship information on illegal aliens who stay as far away as possible form Homeland Security unless they contact HHS or are apprehended by HHS.
The second is that Florida election law regarding voter rolls clearly stipulates that people cannot be removed from the voter rolls within 90 days of an election (which is currently scheduled for August 2012).
The third problem is that do you think anyone in their right mind could trust the Governor or Secretary of State with any sensitive citizenship information concerning 325 million people that might be provided by Homeland Security, et al, regarding voter fraud. After spending at least several hundred thousand dollars of taxpayer funds we have gone from 187,000 to 2300 to 40 people who may have voted illegally.
Unfortunately, there are people voting illegally in Florida. I wonder how many of the illegal voters are simply snowbirds with homes in Florida that vote in their winter residence state (FL), or their home state.
We have a governor who wants small government, but demands that Homeland Security, Immigration, Dept of State and other federal agencies to provide more bits, bytes, and paper of negligible value to harass FL residents and voters.
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/06/07/2837146/fla-gov-scott-says-voter-purge.html#storylink=cpy