Feds Will Let Florida Use Federal Database To Challenge Voters’ Rights

Submitted by Cheston Catalano

It’s a Republican victory in Florida.

The agreement, made in a letter to Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s administration, grants the state access to a list of resident noncitizens maintained by the Homeland Security Department. The Obama administration had denied Florida’s request for months but relented after a judge ruled in the state’s favor in a related voter-purge matter.

Voting rights groups, while acknowledging that noncitizens do not have the right to vote, have expressed alarm about using such data for a purpose not originally intended: purging voter lists of ineligible people. They also say voter purges less than four months before a presidential election might leave insufficient time to correct mistakes from faulty data or other problems.

Democrats say the government’s concession is less troubling than the push by some GOP-controlled states to require voters to show photo identification.

By: Cheston Catalano

Cheston Catalano is a Kentucky-based journalist whose work has been featured in the Chattanooga Times Free Press and the Clarksville Leaf Chronicle. He is a long-time contributor to Liberaland.