Florida’s top election official, stung by criticism that the state previously relied on flawed data, wants to win support from skeptical election supervisors about a coming effort to remove non-U.S. citizens from the state’s voter rolls. Secretary of State Ken Detzner announced Wednesday that he will hold five meetings with county election officials in October on what he’s calling a “Project Integrity Tour.” Some critics have charged that Florida’s voter purge is an effort by Republicans to intimidate naturalized citizens who are likely minorities. But Detzner made it clear in a statement that Florida has no plans to back away from its already announced plans to identify potential non-U.S. citizens and remove them. This time around, though, state officials want to discuss the process they will use prior to distributing any lists of potentially ineligible voters to county officials. County election supervisors are the only ones with power to remove a voter. “We can ensure the continued integrity of our voter rolls while protecting the voting rights of eligible voters from those who may cast an illegal vote,” Detzner said. “Our elections process must uphold the integrity of local voter rolls.”
Republican Gov. Rick Scott first pushed to have the state look for non-U.S. citizens on the rolls. The state initially compared a list of driver’s licenses with voter registration data and came up with a list of 180,000 voters suspected of not being citizens.
That list was pared back to a much smaller one — of more than 2,600 registered voters — that was sent to county election officials last year. Many election supervisors, however, did not wind up removing anyone after questions arose about the law and the accuracy of the list.
Florida then reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to screen names on a federal immigration database. That yielded a list of nearly 200 names. Some of those on that list included voters who admitted that they are not citizens.
Full Article: Fla. election chief wants support for voter purge – SFGate.