The Department of Justice is intervening in Florida’s voter-roll purge, demanding that the Sunshine State stop immediately because it may be in violation of federal law.
Gov. Rick Scott has come up with a list of 180,000 voters who his administration suspects are ineligible to cast ballots in the battleground state. The problem? Florida has cast such a wide net that it seems to have snared many legitimate voters.
According to the DOJ letter sent to Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner on Thursday, the process has not been green lighted under the Voting Rights Act, which protects minorities.
The letter was exclusively shown on the Rachel Maddow Show on Thursday night.
In it, the Justice Department also argues that the purge violated the National Voter Registration Act, which says voter roll maintenance must stop 90 days before an election. Because the Sunshine State has a primary on Aug. 16, their cutoff was May 16.
“Please advise whether the state intends to cease the practice discussed above, so that the Department can determine what further action, if any, is necessary,” the letter states. A Miami Herald analysis shows that Hispanics, Democrats, and independent minded voters are most likely to be targeted by Scott’s initiative — potentially hurting President Obama and other Democrats in November. “Everybody thinks this is a slow news time right now and it’s not,” Maddow said Thursday. “Watch Florida.”
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