Florida and the federal government are once again clashing—this time over the state’s attempt to purge its voter rolls of suspected non-citizens. The voter purge issue has now spawned dueling lawsuits over whether the state can move forward with its plan.
Local elections supervisors say they aren’t touching the state’s purge list over concerns that it’s inaccurate. Governor Rick Scott says the state needs access to a federal database so that it can verify a list of 182,000 people suspected of being non-citizen registered voters. Tuesday he made the rounds on morning talk shows to explain the state’s position:
“We’re put in apposition where we had no choice by t to sue the Department for Homeland Security to get that database to make sure your right as a citizen is not diluted by somebody who is a non-U.S. citizen.”
In an appearance on CNN, Scott accused the federal government of stonewalling, saying Florida officials have been asking for access to the database for months. But the federal government says the state has not provided needed information to use the database, such as alien registration numbers or certificate numbers found on immigration documents.
