Department of Justice slows Florida ‘voter purge’ efforts

Some Florida officials are standing firm on plans to purge voter rolls of ineligible voters, but the state’s two largest counties have stopped removing names from their rolls on Monday in response to protests from the administration, according to CNN.

The Department of Justice objected to actions taken by the state to remove ineligible voters from voter rolls ahead of what is likely to be a hotly contested election. Republican Gov. Rick Scott had urged officials to remove ineligible voters from their rolls in order to prevent non-citizens from casting ballots illegally, and lists were prepared last year.

Critics questioned the accuracy of the lists and warned it would target minorities. The Department of Justice intervened on Thursday, sending a letter that warned the move violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965, landmark legislation that sought to end racially discriminatory voting practices.

"Our records do not reflect that these changes affecting voting have been submitted to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia for judicial review or to the Attorney General for administrative review as required by Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act," T. Christian Herren, head of the voting section of the Civil Rights Division, wrote in the letter, according to CNN.

CNN confirmed that Florida's two largest counties — Broward and Miami-Dade — have stopped removing names from their voter rolls in response to the letter, but reported that the Florida Division of Elections is still reviewing the letter.

"The Department of State has a duty under both state and federal laws to ensure that Florida's voter registration rolls are current and accurate. Therefore, identifying ineligible voters is something we are always doing," Chris Cate, a spokesman for the Florida Division of Elections, said in a statement Friday. According to Reuters, Cate promised a response to the letter this week.

"We provided information to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security yesterday, and have been doing so for nearly nine months, in hopes that the federal government would help us identify ineligible voters,” he continued. “While this isn't a response from DHS as to why they haven't provided us access to their data, at least we know the federal government knows we take ineligible voters on the voter rolls seriously. We hope the federal government will recognize the importance of accurate voter rolls and support our efforts.”

Florida is expected to be one of the battleground states determining the presidential election in November.

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