Florida Congressman Demands Gov. Rick Scott ‘Immediately Suspend’ Voter Purge

[lance_strongarm]

@Chronos

I don’t see how one goes from “legal obligation to maintain accurate voting lists” to “systematic effort to make voting lists less accurate”. And it’s already been shown that these purges are disenfranchising more legitimate voters than illegitimate ones, in other words, making the lists less accurate.

Yes, that’s the bottom line - this does more damage than it fixes.

[Untoward_Parable]

@lance_strongarm

Yes, that’s the bottom line - this does more damage than it fixes.

The bottom line is that it has no intention of fixing anything. The bottom line is it is absolutely intended to disenfranchise minorities.

[lance_strongarm]

@Untoward_Parable

The bottom line is that it has no intention of fixing anything. The bottom line is it is absolutely intended to disenfranchise minorities.

Okay, put “fix” in quotes.

[elucidator]

“Fixes” in much the same way I had my dog fixed. He has yet to forgive, like he was getting any anyway…

[Left_Hand_of_Dorkness]

@elucidator

“Fixes” in much the same way I had my dog fixed. He has yet to forgive, like he was getting any anyway…

Y’know, I kind of like that. These are efforts to fix the voting rolls, as in, they’re an effort to neuter the electorate.

[elucidator]

Well, not all the electorate. The strays, the mongrels, the lesser breeds…

[BrainGlutton]

@adaher

I also know the history of dead people voting.

Do you know any such history later than 1980?

[BrainGlutton]

@adaher

And playing the race card does not purge the intent of cheating to win.

Cite for this cheating?

[Untoward_Parable]

@BrainGlutton

Cite for this cheating?

Ya those devious US minorities, always fraudulently voting to get their guys elected…

[Gyrate]

@BrainGlutton

Do you know any such history later than 1980?

Well, a lot of brain-dead people have been voting lately if the Tea Party rhetoric is anything to go by.

[BrainGlutton]

They’re re-starting the purge.

Florida’s noncitizen voter-purge program roared back to life Wednesday when Gov. Rick Scott’s elections department produced a new list of 198 potentially ineligible voters — including 36 who might have cast ballots illegally.

The list, along with a stack of documentation, was sent to the independent county elections supervisors who are ultimately in charge of maintaining and purging voter rolls.

At the same time, state attorneys for each of the concerned counties could begin examining whether to bring criminal charges against any noncitizen who has voted.

The decision to push ahead with the controversial program just 41 days before Election Day in the nation’s biggest battleground state is already the subject of three separate federal lawsuits from a coalition of liberal-leaning groups as well as President Barack Obama’s Justice Department.

Republicans are the least likely to be identified as potential noncitizens on the list when compared to independents and Democrats. Hispanics are more likely than non-Hispanic whites or African Americans to be flagged, a Miami Herald analysis determined.

[elucidator]

If you liked Florida 2000, you’re gonna fucking love the sequel!

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

Rick Scott: all the evil of Katherine Harris, none of the hate-fuck appeal.

[elucidator]

Had forgotten her until now. Swell. Thanks.

[BrainGlutton]

And it gets worse.

[Yvette Lewis, the political action chair of the Hillsborough County NAACP] runs into Blair Bass, a 44-year-old customer service attendant. He was released from prison in 2009 for a felony conviction from 2001. Upon release, he says he was notified by the state’s elections division that his voting rights had been restored. A few months ago, Bass received another letter from the county telling him that he’s no longer eligible to vote because of his felony conviction. This confused him, because the county had also just sent him his voter identification card. He displays it from his wallet; it shows he registered in April 2011.

Bass wants to know if he should vote in November, but Lewis can’t be sure if he qualifies. She’s worked for years trying to get more black people to the polls, so it pains her to say what comes next. She tells Bass, as she has many others like him, not to vote.

Lewis fears that the former felons are headed into a “trap” set for them, and for the whole voting rights movement—one in which confused felons could end up in legal trouble and accused of voter fraud. Her suspicions are not unfounded. An organization called Tampa Vote Fair has been besieging the county supervisor of elections with alarmist cries of ex-felon voter fraud. No such fraud has been found in the county, but the group has managed to cloud public opinion on its existence either way. And thanks to multiple changes in election law since 2007—including draconian new measures signed by Governor Rick Scott in 2011—state and county election officials seem just as confused about which ex-felons can and cannot vote.

<snip>

Before 2007, Florida was one of three states that permanently disenfranchised all ex-felons. But Governor Charlie Crist amended the rules so that nonviolent ex-felons could more easily have their voting rights restored. According to the Brennan Center for Justice, the voting rights of more than 150,000 Floridians were restored as a result.

As soon as Scott took office in 2011, he began to reverse Crist’s reforms. Now, those with non-serious felonies have to wait five years after release from jail (seven years for serious felonies) before they can be considered for rights restoration—and then only if they’ve been crime-free during that period. In addition, Scott expanded the serious felonies list to include other crimes, notably those involving drug trafficking. If you have unpaid restitution, you’re ineligible for restoration, and to apply for a hearing, you must obtain copies of all original court documents connected with your case. By the end of 2011, only seventy-eight former felons had had their voting rights restored under Scott’s new rules, as reported by the Florida ACLU.

For those who have had their rights restored, even as carry-overs from the Crist administration, few are aware that they can, in fact, vote. A few days after the picnic, Lewis is in the NAACP office sorting through sheets of names of people who have contacted her over the past few weeks about their access to the vote. Many of them have received conflicting information from the county, and they need Lewis to help them sort it out.

[Truman_Burbank]

So where the hell is JBGUSA with his cites to back up his claims of bought votes? So far, the only election fraud I’ve seen well documented has been from the Republican side…

[Boyo_Jim]

Perhaps now that Rublican electoral fraud has been discovered, the Republican Party will suddenly decide that weeding out fraud isn’t so important after all.

[Ibn_Warraq]

@BrainGlutton

Do you know any such history later than 1980?

You mean like the Miami Mayoral race in the 1990s which is what brought about the laws which caused such controversy during the 2000 election?

Yup, it happens and probably always will.

That said, while I’m not really a fan of operating our elections on the honor system, in-person voter fraud is so vanishingly rare that I find such laws unnecessary.

However, a number of states, such as Indiana have had such laws in place for a few election cycles. Have there been any studies to show that in those states voting was restricted or prevented due to the laws?

[JBGUSA]

@Truman_Burbank

So where the hell is JBGUSA with his cites to back up his claims of bought votes? So far, the only election fraud I’ve seen well documented has been from the Republican side…

I’m here. I am not at your beck and call.

But see here (link).

[Zakalwe]

@JBGUSA

I’m here. I am not at your beck and call.

But see here (link).

Wow. Thanks for playing, when come back bring…actually never mind - if that’s your idea of a cite, don’t come back.