Thread: Florida pushes back against holder, doj over illegal voters purge

FLORIDA PUSHES BACK AGAINST HOLDER, DOJ OVER ILLEGAL VOTERS PURGE

By NWV News writer Jim Kouri
Posted 1:00 AM Eastern
July 8, 2012
© 2012 NewsWithViews.com

Florida government officials yesterday responded to Attorney General Eric Holder's and the Obama Justice Department's claim that its statewide examination of voter records to identify illegal voters is illegal. One of the Sunshine State's top officials stated Wednesday that it is Holder and Department of Justice officials who are in violation of the law.

"The Florida Department of State has a solemn obligation to ensure the integrity of elections in this state. Permitting ineligible, non-citizen voters to cast ballots undermines that mission and erodes the justified faith the electorate has in the fairness and reliability of the electoral process," said Florida Secretary of State Kenneth Detzner in a letter to the Justice Department.

"As Florida’s Chief Election Officer, I am committed to ensuring the accuracy of Florida’s voter rolls and the integrity of our elections. It is my duty to protect the right of all eligible voters who are able to participate in the process. This is the security that voters and candidates expect from us in every election. The Department will continue to act in a responsible and cautious manner when presented with credible information about potentially ineligible voters. No one that has the right to vote has been denied the opportunity to cast a vote, and as the Secretary, it is my duty to ensure that remains the case," stated Detzner's letter.

Supporters of Florida's voters check say it is a legal means of clearing voter rolls of non-citizens or deceased registrants. But leftists and advocates for illegal aliens call it part of disenfranchising minority voters.

"When will the GOP fight back against the Democrats' tired accusation that Republicans are trying to stop minorities from voting. It's the Democrats' 'get out the vote machine' that needs to be investigated. It's the Democrats who stand to gain by ignoring illegal voters," said political strategist Mike Baker.

"As has been said in the past: If you wish to know what the Democrats are planning, just listen to what they accuse Republicans of doing. Democrats disenfranchise American citizens when illegal aliens, legal immigrants and other ineligible voters cast their ballots. They are canceling out the votes of U.S. citizens," Baker said.

Detzner said Florida's actions were consistent with federal voting laws and his pointed comments indicated that Florida had no immediate intention of giving up its voter scrub effort.

On June 1, Attorney General Eric Holder and the U.S. Justice Department demanded that the State of Florida -- considered a vital electoral state -- to stop checking voter records in that state's probe of illegal voter registrations.

T. Christian Herren, who heads the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Justice, had warned Detzner in a separate letter last week that an ongoing search for and purging of non-eligible voters in Florida appeared to violate the 1965 Voting Rights Act that protects minorities.

In the letter to Florida's Secretary of State Ken Detzner, who is in charge of elections, Herren claimed searching for illegal voters "seemed to violate the 1993 National Voter Registration Act" and its rules for maintaining "accurate and current" voter registration lists "in a uniform and non-discriminatory manner."

However, critics of Holder and his underlings at DOJ believe this is another scheme to allow illegal immigrants, convicted felons and out-of-state residents to vote in Florida which has been a battleground state that can determine a winner by a mere few hundred votes.

"Holder, Herren and their boss [President Barack] Obama have shown absolutely no proof of discrimination. If they're so worried about the integrity of voters' rights, why didn't they go after the New Black Panther Party who actually interfered with voters' rights?" asked political strategist Michael Baker.

"Supporters of Governor Rick Scott's so-called purge of illegal voters, have been open about the purpose of it: to clear voter rolls of non-citizens. But Democrats continue say the Republican are attempting to prevent minorities and the poor will most probably vote Democratic," Baker stated.

"While the Democrats and their [sic] crony organizations accuse Republicans freely and openly, rarely do you hear a Republican accuse Democrats of 'stuffing the ballot box' with illegal ballots. And yet, there is quite a bit of evidence of Democrat Party-affiliated groups involved in voter fraud. Did I hear the name ACORN?" quipped Baker.

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related ..

Voter Identification: The latest cruelty or are you a racist?

Late in December 2011, The New York Times, reported the following:

“The Justice Department on Friday blocked a new South Carolina law that would require voters to present photo identification, saying the law would disproportionately suppress turnout among eligible minority voters.
The move was the first time since 1994 that the department has exercised its powers under the Voting Rights Act to block a voter identification law. It followed a speech this month by Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. that signaled an aggressive stance in reviewing a wave of new state voting restrictions, largely enacted by Republicans in the name of fighting fraud.
In a letter to the South Carolina government, Thomas E. Perez, the assistant attorney for civil rights, said that allowing the new requirement to go into effect would have “significant racial disparities.” (New York Times, Dec. 23, 2011)
As Eric Holder put it, “the same disparities, divisions and problems” that beset the country in 1965 and “many Americans, for the first time in their lives . . . now have reason to believe that we are failing to live up” to the promise of democracy for all. (Wall Street Journal, December 23, 2011)
Here
Actually, liberal bloggers have been discussing this for quite some time. A writer from Racism Review says those who push for voter identification are really about “dominance, reductionism, elimination, racism” and ” classism” (Racism Review, June 18, 2011).
Yes, of course. This makes perfect sense. Why should I.D. be required to vote?
True, in other situations, self identification is readily accepted by our society, but everything is different when examining a matter as trivial as elections. We need photo I.D. to open a bank account, cash a check, purchase alcohol, rent an apartment, board a plane, buy a gun, rent a car, reserve a hotel room, qualify for a loan, obtain a marriage license , or purchase insurance.
But why oh why should such precedence lead us to believe that identification is important when choosing our next president? Indeed, should you even dare to propose such a standard, it proves one thing and one thing only: You are a racist. What? You say you are not a racist? Instead you are only concerned that somebody who is not a citizen of the United States might manipulate an election in the Unites States? Well, hold on to your seat, because the inability to admit your racism actually makes you more of a racist than ever. In fact, the more defensive you get on this issue, the more you prove your own guilt.
Such is the conventional wisdom from many of our liberal elite.
Now then, if you wish, you can offer to question such “wisdom.” Perhaps you don’t think it’s wise at all. Maybe you want to make a case that Political Correctness is destroying our society’s ability to have meaningful conversations any more. Go ahead and bark down that alley. Try to prove that what looks illogical actually is illogical. You will fail to make your point and instead prove something else. I’ll give you three guesses and the first two don’t count. That’s right, once again you will demonstrate racism.
So just be silent and blend into the crowd. Stop offering your opinion. That way, you’ll come across as smart, compassionate, and sophisticated, at least in the year 2012. Perhaps future generations, when reading American history, will marvel at a culture where the cowardly failed to confront the brainwashed. They may even conclude that the Obama administration saw illegal votes as some kind of election advantage. But why worry about history now?

In March 2012 Eric Holder would challenge the state of Texas over voter ID law.
Here

ADDED TO ALIPAC HOMEPAGE News with amended title ..

http://www.alipac.us/content/florida...ers-purge-601/

DOJ's position, that purging the rolls of 53,000 dead persons would disenfranchise minorities and deny them the right to vote, presumes that an extremely odd mistake has occurred. DOJ is implying that all not only are the 53,000 dead people actually all living, but are members of minority groups as well. All Democrats, too I betcha.

Florida demands access to federal database to purge illegal voters


By Mark K. Matthews, Washington Bureau
7:52 p.m. EST, June 7, 2012


WASHINGTON — It's a fight made for the digital age: a battle between Florida leaders and federal officials over a government database that could help determine whether some foreigners are masquerading as eligible Florida voters.

For about nine months, the Florida Department of State has asked the Department of Homeland Security for access to its SAVE system — a compilation of at least a dozen immigration databases — to help it determine how many noncitizens are registered to vote here. But it has yet to get permission.


Now Florida is upping the ante, accusing DHS of infringing on federal law by stalling — even as another federal agency, the Justice Department, has ordered Florida to stop a purge of its voter rolls that state officials said it needs the SAVE system to complete.

"I hope you will understand the importance of making sure the vote of an eligible voter is not diminished by the vote of an ineligible voter and provide my department the access it needs to the SAVE database," wrote Ken Detzner, Florida secretary of state, in a letter sent recently to DHS chief Janet Napolitano.

To validate his argument, Detzner cited an 2011 DHS document that notes voter registration is a valid use of the SAVE system.

According to the DHS report, which broadly addresses privacy concerns about the program, federal law "provides for customer agencies to use SAVE for any legal purpose such as background investigations and voter registration."

But though Colorado, Michigan and North Carolina also have sought similar information from DHS and immigration officials, they have not been successful either. DHS officials could not recall any state that currently uses the database to check voters.

On March 26, according to an email released by the state, DHS official Howard Roth emailed a Department of State attorney that "there are many issues surrounding the use of SAVE in the voter registration forum [sic]" and promised to let her know when they were resolved.

On Thursday, a senior DHS official, who would speak only on background, said the agency was waiting for Florida and the U.S. Justice Department to settle their dispute on whether Florida's purge violates federal voter-protection laws before allowing the state access the SAVE database. Only then would DHS consider access legally authorized, the official said.

"Obviously, removing folks from the voter rolls is something we take seriously," said the official.

The DHS representative also cautioned that even if Florida could use SAVE, it would not paint a complete picture of who is a U.S. citizen — as the list deals largely with green-card holders and naturalized citizens, and is not a comprehensive list of all Americans who have the right to vote.

The issue now has triggered a broader battle about the accuracy of Gov. Rick Scott's purge of Florida's voter rolls and any politics behind it.

U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, this week accused President Barack Obama and his administration of "stonewalling" by not giving Florida access to the SAVE system and said opposition to Florida's actions by the Justice Department was designed to help Obama get re-elected.


That prompted U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, to counter Thursday that Republican efforts to strip names from the voter rolls also are politically motivated.

"This purge will remove thousands of legitimate voters," he said. "Why is there zero concern for these voters?"

The Scott administration initially identified about 180,000 potential noncitizens by checking state records and winnowed that list — using a drivers-license database that in recent years has asked applicants about their citizenship — to identify more than 2,600 people. It then told the 67 county supervisors of elections to send letters demanding proof of citizenship and remove those who didn't reply or couldn't produce proof.

But the purge sparked widespread complaints for disproportionally targeted minorities —largely Hispanic — while hitting hundreds of immigrants-turned-citizens and two 91-year-old World War II veterans.

Last week, a Justice Department attorney said it violated a federal law banning voter purges within 90 days of an election, and the supervisors of election said they were suspending action.

In order to clarify its records, state officials said Thursday that they want to run all 180,000 names through the SAVE system, which aggregates at least a dozen Justice and DHS databases and includes a range of records from student visas to casework for marriage fraud.

Doing so would cost the state at least $90,000, as the minimum rate is 50 cents a name; the cost could triple if Florida elects to use the most comprehensive search available.

Chris Cate, a spokesman for the Florida secretary of state, said the cost was worth it.

"There is no perfect system. This [SAVE] is just the best system we are aware of," he said of the database, which stands for Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements.

As of last summer, at least 500 federal-, state-, tribal- and local-government agencies —from military recruiters to nuclear-plant officials — used the SAVE system to verify individuals' immigration status.

Florida voter purge: Florida says it needs access to federal database to purge illegal voters - Orlando Sentinel