2016 Postmortem

Florida quits controversial voter ‘purge’ program

04/15/14 10:35 AM—UPDATED 04/15/14 06:21 PM
By Zachary Roth

Florida has ditched a controversial GOP-backed program aimed at catching voters who are registered in multiple states, which some voting-rights advocates say can make it easier for eligible voters to be wrongly purged from the rolls.

It’s the same program whose data were used for an eye-catching recent report suggesting that more than 35,000 people may have voted in North Carolina and another state in 2012—a conclusion that was quickly debunked by numerous experts.

Florida’s decision to leave the Interstate Crosscheck system, created by Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a Republican, was first reported Friday by the Miami Herald.

“The Department of State and Supervisors of Elections currently work with elections officials in other states to update registrations regarding residency, and we are always exploring options to improve the elections process,” Brittany Lesser, a spokeswoman for Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner, told msnbc in a statement.

The state’s move is striking because, under Republican Gov. Rick Scott, Florida has led the way in aggressively removing voters from the rolls. A 2012 effort that aimed to find non-citizens purged numerous eligible voters, including a 91-year old World War II vet. A court recently declared the move illegal. Last month, Detzner announced that a new bid to cut voters from the rolls would be delayed until next year.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/florida-quits-crosscheck

A PETITION TO RELEASE THE NAMES OF VOTERS ON THE “INTERSTATE CROSSCHECK” PURGE LIST

To: Office of the Attorney General, Loretta E. Lynch
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001

In his Rolling Stone investigation Greg Palast revealed that a program to prevent alleged voter fraud, “Interstate Crosscheck,” has wrongly tagged voters listing them as registering in two states or voting in two states, a felony crime. The suspect list of potential criminals contains an astonishing SEVEN MILLION NAMES—naming ONE IN SEVEN voters of color in the Crosscheck states.
While partisan officials have kept the list confidential, Rolling Stone investigative reporter Greg Palast obtained over one million of the accused.

The ONLY evidence that you have voted or registered in two states is that you share a first name and last name with another voter. A typical example: Maria ISABEL Hernandez of Virginia is supposedly the same voter as Maria CRISTINA Hernandez of Louisiana.

As many as one million may have lost their right to vote in the election.

Experts have stated the Crosscheck system, directed for 30 states by the highly partisan Secretary of State of Kansas, is “dangerously biased against minorities.” As the great civil rights leader Rev. Joseph Lowery said of Crosscheck, “This is Jim Crow all over again.”

From:
We, the undersigned. The American public demand an investigation of Crosscheck’s racially-biased purge operation — and the release of the entire list of the seven million Americans suspected of voting or registering in two states..
Upon reaching 50,000 co-signers our team at the Palast Investigative Fund will hand deliver the names to your office – and demand that your Civil Rights division do a full investigation into the Interstate Crosscheck program.
Signed,

Congressman Alcee Hastings, Congressional Black Caucus
Hon. Keith Ellison, US Congressman
Martin Luther King III
Santiago Juarez, AMPARO Legal Services
Dr. Wilmer Leon, Sirius FM
Bill Gallegos, Climate Justice, Communities for a Better Environment
Taz Ahmed, 18 Million Rising
Mimi Kennedy, People Demanding Action
Medea Benjamin, Code Pink


http://thebestdemocracymoneycanbuy.com/petition/