U.S. Justice Department Demands GOP Stop Purging Voter Rolls in Florida

I noted recently who GOP Florida Governor Rick Scott and his GOP political have launched an effort to purge "unqualified voters" from the voting rolls in Florida.  By coincidence - wink and nod - those targeted for purging almost without exception seem to be Democrats and minorities.  Elderly whites and far right Bubbas have been unaffected.  Apparently, the GOP knows that its platform and policies cannot win a majority of voters, so it's necessary to knock opposition voters of the voting rolls.  All of this is done, of course, to protect against "rampant voter fraud."  The problem is the numbers from past elections demonstrate that there is no rampant voter fraud to be protected against.  The entire agenda is aimed at stifling anti-GOP votes so that the GOP can steal the election in Florida - a must win state for Mitt Romney.  Thankfully, the U. S. Justice Department has demanded that Florida cease the Scott?GOP directed voter purge.  One can only hope that charges will be filed against the state of Florida and ideally, Scott personally, to make sure this kind of outrage stops.  Here are highlights from Talking Points Memo:

The Justice Department sent a letter to Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner Thursday evening demanding the state cease purging its voting rolls because the process it is using has not been cleared under the Voting Rights Act, TPM has learned.

DOJ 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 August 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.

“To enable us to meet our responsibility to enforce federal law, please inform us by June 6 of the action that the State of Florida plans to take concerning the matters discussed in this letter,” Christian Herren, chief of the voting section of DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, wrote in the letter obtained by TPM. “Specifically, 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 DOJ letter can be seen here.