Justice Department Demands Florida Stop Purging Voter Rolls
Sending a strong signal that voter suppression efforts won't be tolerated, the U.S. Department of Justice sent a letter Thursday evening to Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner demanding the state cease purging its voting rolls because its process has not been cleared under the Voting Rights Act, according to Talking Points Memo (TPM), which broke the story .
The Justice Department also said that Florida’s voter roll purge violated the National Voter Registration Act, which stipulates that voter roll maintenance should have ceased 90 days before an election, which, given Florida’s Aug. 14 primary, meant May 16.
Five of Florida’s counties are subject to the Voting Rights Act, but the state never sought permission from either the Justice Department or a federal court to implement its voter roll maintenance program. Florida officials said they were trying to remove non-citizens from the voting rolls, but a flawed process led to several U.S. citizens being asked to prove their citizenship status or be kicked off the rolls.
Calling the Justice Department action "a small victory for our democracy," AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker says:
This is an important step, but there remains a national, coordinated effort underway to put up barriers to voting. Voting is a fundamental
right that people have fought and died for. It is essential that we make it easier for people to exercise their voice at the poll, not more difficult.
The Justice Department action came just hours after a judge in Florida blocked key parts of the state's restrictive voting law.
