Last updated on June 14th, 2012 at 12:36 pm
So now, it goes to the courts.
Rick Scott is suing the Department of Homeland Security in the name of accessing its database, to have a more accurate purge list.. Despite Scott’s claim that this is just about addressing the statistical non-existent problem of voter fraud in Florida, no one with a brain believes it.
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As was expected, the Department of Justice will file suit against Florida for violations of the Voter Protection Act.
AP via SFgate reports:
This latest action follows a lawsuit filed last week against the purge by a Hispanic civic organization and two naturalized citizens that was backed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida.
The litigation is unlikely to have much a practical effect since nearly every county supervisor in Florida had already suspended efforts to remove any of the potential non-U.S. citizens identified by the state.
As noted, the DOJ’s pending lawsuit follows suits already filed by the ACLU on behalf of two naturalized U.S. citizens on the basis that the purge violates the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
It is worth noting, that county Supervisors removed non-citizens independently of Scott and Detzer’s list and also managed to identify flaws in the list, without access to the DHS database.
The county supervisors have the ability to identify and remove people from the rolls who are not eligible without access to the DHS database. They also have the ability to recognize flawed information when they see it, without access to the DHS database. That is why they have refused to act on the lists.
In other words, even if Florida has a case in its action against the DHS, they really cannot blame the DHS for Florida’s State Department’s alleged inability to properly maintain its voter rolls.
Florida could very well be within its rights to have access to the database, but it is not dependent on that database to maintain accurate voter rolls.
State records show 86 non-citizens have been removed from the voter rolls since April 11, and that more than half of them had voted in previous elections. But some of the names removed in recent weeks were discovered by supervisors independently and did not come from the list distributed by the state.
Without cooperation from the County Supervisors, Ricky can’t implement the purge. However, he needs to be seen as a “strong” leader to those who equate that with a burning desire to resurrect Jim Crow, constitution and federal law be damned.
There may or may not be legal merit to Scott’s suit against the DHS. Without question, there are a few political motives. He wants to be seen as the sort of non-compromising leader the Tea Party loves. He ain’t about to be pushed around by no Obama Administration or no Libtard interpretation of the consitushun.
While this may appeal to his political base, it doesn’t remove the fact that his suit doesn’t mitigate or justify the fact that Florida is violating federal laws and constitutional protections.
In this case, the facts are evident and make for an obvious outcome in the DOJ’s pending case against Florida. The DOJ will win its suit against Florida for violations of the Voters Rights Act, 1965, regardless of the outcome of Florida’s suit against the DHS.
I’m not arguing one way or another whether Florida has a case against the DHS. I am arguing that if they were so concerned about having accurate information in the name of preventing the non-existent problem of voter fraud, they would have sought legal remedy against the DHS earlier.
While I won’t speculate on the outcome of Florida’s case against the DHS, I will say that it is a separate legal question in the purge question. Moreover, Florida’s ability to maintain its voter rolls is not dependent on its access to the DHS database. It may very well be that the case has legal merit, but Rick Scott’s decision to take action at this time, sounds more like a politician trying to blow smoke.
If this really was about addressing the non-existent problem of voter fraud, Florida would not, once again, settle for using information that is as flawed as it was during the last couple of Presidential elections.
Perhaps the issue this time, in reality, is most of the 67 county supervisors are saying no. Maybe it’s because they don’t want to be associated with the appearance of suppressing the vote. Maybe the county supervisors truly believe that protecting the rights of eligible voters does not mean knowingly and intentionally removing eligible voters from the rolls.
Florida knew that using dated DMV records is a flawed process. They knew it from 2000 and 2004, in which they also justified using those records in the name of eliminating the non-existent problem of voter fraud.
We already know if you are African American or Hispanic and likely registered as a Democrat, you are more likely to end up on a purge list than if you are white and Republican. It happened before. Unlike before, there is national attention on the goings on in Florida.
Floridians recognize this song and dance as an effort to deliver Florida to Willard Romney. Obama’s support is up in Florida. Adding insult to injury, Florida’s police officers are leaving the Republican Party, en masse, albeit for unrelated reasons.
As reported by the Broward Palm Beach New Times
The reason for the switch? The association, which serves as the bargaining union for the county's law enforcement officers, is unhappy with the leadership of Governor Rick Scott and the results of the past legislative session, including changes to the Florida Retirement System that will require the workers to pay more of their own wages into retirement savings.
Add Scott's effort to do a Walk to Florida was another factor. Contrary to Walker's approach, Scott's attempt at union bashing is uniting Floridians – against Scott.
"[Governor Scott’s] union dues deduction bill is a flat-out union-busting bill," says Hanrahan. "Under the law, a government agency wouldn't be allowed to collect union dues if it was involved in political campaigns." He notes that Scott had "no problem" taking money from the police union in the past election. Scott did get significant pushback on the bill from some Republican representatives, but the House eventually passed it.
The bottom line is Floridians have had enough of Rick Scott, his past … questionable practices, his policies and his unorthodox methods of pushing the right wing agenda. Floridians recognize that the purge has nothing to do with protecting their rights or their interests. It has everything to do with delivering Florida to Willard by any means necessary.
Image from newtimes
Former contributor.
