AP NewsBreak: Feds OK Fla. access to citizens list
Florida Governor Rick Scott during a round table discussion about Personal injury Protection insurance and how this effects rising auto insurance rates on November 14, 2011, in Miami, Florida. / Joe Raedle/Getty Images
(AP) WASHINGTON - In a victory for Republicans, the federal government has agreed to let Florida use a law enforcement database to challenge people's right to vote if they are suspected of not being U.S. citizens.
The agreement, made in a letter to Florida Gov. Rick Scott's administration that was obtained by The Associated Press, 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 have no 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 stemming from faulty data or other problems.
Democrats say that the government's concession is less troubling than some GOP-controlled states' push to require voters to show photo identification.
But Republicans count it as a victory nonetheless in their broad-based fight over voter eligibility, an issue that could play a big role in the White House race. That's especially true in pivotal states such as Florida, Colorado, Nevada and North Carolina.
Republican officials in several states say they are trying to combat voter fraud. Democrats, however, note that proven cases of voter fraud are rare. They accuse Republicans of cynical efforts to suppress voting by people in lower socio-economic groups who tend to vote Democratic.
The Homeland Security decision may affect places beyond Florida, because Colorado and other states have asked for similar access to the federal database.
After a judge recently ruled against federal efforts to stop Florida's aggressive voter-list review, Homeland Security agreed to work on details for how the state can access the federal SAVE database — Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements — to challenge registered voters suspected of being noncitizens.
Florida has agreed that it can challenge voters only if the state provides a "unique identifier," such as an "alien number," for each person in question. Alien numbers generally are assigned to foreigners living in the country legally, often with visas or other permits such as green cards.
Unless they become naturalized citizens, however, they cannot vote.
The agreement will prevent Florida from using only a name and birthdate to seek federal data about a suspected noncitizen on voter rolls.
The SAVE list is unlikely to catch illegal immigrants in any state who might have managed to register to vote because such people typically would not have an alien number.
Scott, whose administration had sued Homeland Security for access to the SAVE list, said the agreement "marks a significant victory for Florida and for the integrity of our election system."
"Access to the SAVE database will ensure that noncitizens do not vote in future Florida elections," Scott said in a statement Saturday.
In a letter Monday, the department told Florida it was ready to work out details for providing access to the SAVE list. The letter was signed by Alejandro Mayorkas, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
It follows a flurry of legal actions between Florida and the federal government. On June 11, the Justice Department said it would sue Scott's administration on grounds that the state's voter-purge efforts violated voting rights laws.
The same day, Scott announced a lawsuit against Homeland Security seeking access to the SAVE list. He said it could be a valuable tool in determining who is a citizen. Two weeks later, a U.S. judge blocked the federal attempts to stop Florida's voter review efforts; the Mayorkas letter soon followed.
A Homeland Security spokesman said Saturday the agency had no further comment.
Department officials told the Orlando Sentinel last month they had concerns about using the SAVE list for voter-review purposes. They said the list's information is incomplete and does not provide comprehensive data on all eligible voters, the newspaper reported.
Scott's administration hopes to restart a suspended voter registration purge that was hampered this year by faulty data and bad publicity. The review, using driver's license information, initially produced 180,000 voters' names considered worthy of checking. County election supervisors examined 2,625 people on the list. But more than 500 were soon found to be citizens, and the review was halted.
State records show that 86 noncitizens were removed from the voter rolls since April 11, and more than half of them had voted in previous elections.
Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner asked election officials Saturday to restart the review. He said it will "include a carefully calibrated matching process" between the state's driver and voter data "before any records are verified through SAVE."
While some noncitizens who are legal residents may knowingly try to register and vote, others apparently do so unwittingly. After obtaining a driver's license, some assume they also can vote, officials say.
Access to the federal SAVE list may catch such ineligible voters in Florida. They presumably would have an alien number and be listed in state motor vehicle records.
Voter-rights groups expressed concerns about Florida's efforts.
"No matter what database Florida has access to, purging voters from the rolls using faulty criteria on the eve of an election could prevent thousands of eligible voters from exercising their rights," said Jonathan Brater, a lawyer with the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law. "Florida must use a more transparent and accurate process and must leave enough time for voters targeted for removal to be notified and correct errors," he said.
Some state governments have sought access to the federal database for years. Federal officials told Washington state in 2005 they saw no way to compare voters and the Homeland Security information.
Colorado has sought the federal data for a year. Colorado, which has a Democratic governor but a Republican secretary of state, Scott Gessler, has identified about 5,000 registered voters that it wants to check against the federal information.
Officials in the politically competitive states of Ohio, Michigan, New Mexico and Iowa — all led by GOP governors — are backing his efforts.
Gessler said 430 registered voters have acknowledged being ineligible, but an "unenforceable honor system does not build confidence in our elections."
Although Republican activists have repeatedly said fraud is so widespread that it has corrupted the political process and, possibly, cost the party election victories, about 120 people have been charged and 86 convicted as of last year.
In 2007, five years after the George W. Bush administration launched a crackdown on voter fraud, the Justice Department found virtually no evidence of organized efforts to influence federal elections with ineligible voters.
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After that, we should open up a gigantic pencil factory and expand our apple orchards so all them poor people we throw into the streets when we eliminate all social programs from food stamps and Social Security to Medicare, will have an opportunity to pull themselves up into the middle class by selling those pencils and apples on the street corners of our beloved "Land of the Free..." Wow, what a potentially great American success story that will be !!!!!!
When we've done that, let's outlaw all taxation for anyone we rub shoulders with down at the country club, ( provided they're white that is ), and declare war on the world so our good friends in the military/industrial complex...you know who you are, you whacky guys...can make a few more billion, tax-free dollars, and bring all that coal and oil, and whatever else we can pillage and plunder from them EVIL-DOERS, back to the good ol' U S of A right after we outlaw ALL green energy ideas, and then we can increase the prices of everything so our rich energy guys can get even richer....and then, our FINAL SOLUTION will be to repeal all health-care for anyone who is not a white property owner, and all those free-loading bums who clog up our emergency rooms and them homeless "don't wanna work" sub-humans, WILL-JUST-DIE....YEE-HAW !!!!!!!!!!!!
In this country you can no longer simply disagree with someone whose political philosophy is different from yours, you must hate them, and if at all possible, do everything in your power to destroy them.... African Americans and women and young people fought hard for the right to vote, some even died for the privilege...how many soldiers have given their lives so that total strangers from all around the world could enjoy that simple right of being able to cast a vote, and see their opinion matter and make a difference ? How dare a political party in of all places the United States of America, so blatantly and arrogantly attempt to structure elections in such a manner as to make it difficult for other Americans to speak with that voice so many have lost their lives trying to ensure is heard ?
Through their actions, Republicans of this present incarnation have proven time and time again that the elderly, the young, the poor and the sick simply do not matter to them...this right-wing voter ID scam is yet another indication that nothing much has changed in their ideology.
It's been estimated that 11 % of Americans....that's more than 21 million voting age citizens....lack "proper" photo identification, as a result, their votes could be turned away on election day. Those without photo ID are disproportionately young and older voters, low-income and disabled....interestingly enough, those very people whose interests just don't matter to the Republican party. The BIG LIE that this ID effort is an attempt at reducing fraud simply doesn't stand up to scrutiny. Such things as people voting twice or voting illegally almost never occurs, and certainly not in numbers large enough to effect elections...preventing millions of otherwise entitled American citizens from exercising their rights to vote most assuredly will.
If you really believe Republicans have all-of-a-sudden developed this impressive social-consciousness and awareness, just examine their history, and think again.
GW Bush was a Goebbels for himself. The GOPers are the Goebbels party of today.
That's the administration, not the legals or illegals, who create the problem of the voter fraud. Real, physically existing non-citizens or illegals have nothing to do with this.
They do not vote, do not attempt to vote, never even try to vote.
Blaming them is a big cover-up for the political crooks.
Non-citizens have nothing to do with the darn vote fraud!!!
_______________________
Actually, some of them do try to vote because they are ignorant of the fact that they do not have the right to vote.
Personally, I say that anyone who is a resident of this country, legal or not, should have the right to vote at least at the state and local level.
The things there have just as much affect on them as anyone else.
http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/case/hiring-illegal-immigrants.html
Seconded.
And thanks for your posts in this issue!
A better issue is the requirement to state whether one is registered to vote before receiving a drivers' license. Voter registration status is not a hugely private thing, in fact it's public record, but requiring a person to complete the motor-voter section versus just requiring them to complete or x-through it is an intrusion.
JewsagainstZionism -
Zing.
90 year old woman or 9 second old child:
http://buyingindividualhealthinsurancepolicy.org/2011/04/02/newborn-with-birth-defect-denied-health-care-coverage-because-of-pre-existing-condition/
if that link doesn't work then try:
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/03/26-0
What is interesting is the dead silence of the so call conservative Christians at this injustice. Is the draw to defeat Obama much stronger than standing against injustice, even if it means these Christians turning their faces. I guess the conservative christian communities faith is on sale to the devil.
About Romney....."I believe he did nothing wrong, anymore than what any rich person would do to keep the government from taking all his hard earned money and giving away. I think he would make a very good President."
So silent they are not, but gullible and mislead they may be! The Democrats must not assume that this election cannot be bought for sources are out there to do just that via voter purges, funds for new church auditoriums, and a whole lot of other ammenities that come under tax exemptions. (Time to tax all religious property other than the main worship auditorium......this would contribute greatly to the deficit.)
Was Romney's quote in the context of the middle class worker who sees wages continue to stagnate or drop (see previous responses I've made to people with enough links to solidify that as a real, tangible issue) or was he talking about the wealthy, who have let wages stagnate or drop to help appear to be more "profitable" as result, when the real word should be "profiteering"?
That's the administration, not the legals or illegals, who create the problem of the voter fraud. Real, physically existing non-citizens or illegals have nothing to do with this.
They do not vote, do not attempt to vote, never even try to vote.
Blaming them is a big cover-up for the political crooks.
Non-citizens have nothing to do with the darn vote fraud!!!
Registering for vote is a federal crime because you would have to lie to an officer swering that you're a citizen of the USA.
I advise a LOT of illegals to not register for vote because of that but, most of the advocates for voter registration don't care, they'll register anyone.
BTW the only reason that's not a lot of vote registration fraud is because it's almost impossible to prove (only if the person confess).
Remember Indiana primary fraud? Was all Democratic party but more so for Obama.
http://www.southbendtribune.com/news/specialreports/sbt-fake-signatures-may-mean-obama-didnt-actually-qualify-in-indiana-20111013,0,3613033.story