Florida Defies Feds, Purges Voter Lists

Feds are telling Florida to quit purging its voter lists, insisting the process is kicking off many legitimate voters, but Florida won't stop, reports the Guardian. State officials say the purging, which so far has removed 2,600 names, is necessary to ensure that non-citizens aren't voting. But critics say there's little evidence non-citizens are voting, and that the intent of the government, currently controlled by Republicans, is to bounce Democrats from the rolls. One analysis of Miami-Dade County indicated that of 385 people who were bounced, only 10 were not citizens.

Critics also say that the process of eliminating names from voting lists—comparing driver's license information with citizenship records—is flawed. "It's not by accident that Florida is doing this and all these other states that have Republican governors are doing it," said a leading Democrat. But Florida isn't budging. "We have a year-round obligation to make sure the voter rolls are accurate. We are going to continue, and do everything that we can legally do to make sure that ineligible voters cannot vote," said a spokesman for the Florida secretary of state. (More Florida stories.)