ACLU Sues State of Florida Over Voter Purge
TAMPA, Florida – The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLUFL),
the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (LCCRUL) and the law
firm of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP filed a legal challenge to
Florida’s efforts to make lawful citizens and already legally registered
voters re-verify their citizenship or lose their ability to vote.
“The illegal program to purge eligible voters uses inaccurate
information to remove eligible citizens from the voter rolls,” said
Howard Simon, Executive Director of ACLUFL. “It seems that Governor
Scott and his Secretary of State cannot speak without hiding what they
mean in political spin. They mislead Floridians by calling their illegal
list purge ‘protecting citizen's voting rights.’ This is precisely why
Congress has re-enacted, and why we continue to need, the Voting Rights
Act – to prevent state officials from interfering with the
constitutional rights of minorities. We now look to the courts to stop
the Scott administration from assaulting democracy by denying American
citizens the right to vote.”
Murat Limage, a Haitian-American U.S. Citizen, and Pamela Gomez, who
is a Dominican-American Hispanic U.S. Citizen, brought the suit along
with Mi Familia Vota Education Fund, a non-profit organization dedicated
to working with the Latino/Hispanic community to increase civic
participation. Both Gomez and Limage are registered to vote in
Hillsborough County.
Limage became a naturalized U.S. Citizen in October, 2010 and
registered to vote in November, 2010. Nonetheless, Limage was one of the
more than 2,000 registered voters who received written notice from an
elections official insisting that he re-verify his citizenship within 30
days or be removed from the voting rolls and denied his ability to
vote.
The letters were sent to Limage and others by local elections
officials at the request of Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner based
on inaccurate and outdated information from the state’s database of
driver’s licenses. As required by local elections officials, Limage
presented his U.S. passport and other citizenship documents to the
Hillsborough elections office.
“When I received the letter saying that they had information that I
may not be a citizen, I was concerned that someone was taking away my
citizenship,” Limage said. “I’m an American which means I can vote and
that’s all I want to do.”
Gomez became a U.S. Citizen in February, 2011 and registered to vote
the same day. Although she has not yet received a letter requiring her
to re-verify her citizenship to retain her voting rights, she may be
subject to the added burden because she obtained a driver’s license
before she became a citizen – one criteria that contributes to the
inaccuracies in information the Secretary of State is using to place
voters on the state purge list.
“Florida is flouting federal laws designed to protect voters from
precisely this kind of action,” said Bob Kengle, co-director, Voting
Rights Project, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. “The
right of every citizen to have their voice heard at the ballot box is
being threatened. The Lawyers’ Committee will continue to tirelessly
fight any effort to make full-fledged Americans second-class citizens.”
Five Florida counties are covered by Section 5 of the Voting Rights
Act (VRA) which requires that changes in voting procedure in those five
Counties require federal approval before they can be implemented.
Hillsborough County, where Limage and Gomez are registered, is one of
the covered counties. The suit argues that subjecting Limage to extra
requirements to register and vote without obtaining federal approval
violates the VRA.
“The state of Florida is violating federal law by subjecting citizens
to this new and unnecessary requirement in order to exercise their
right to vote,” said Julie Ebenstein, ACLUFL Staff Attorney. “We are
asking the court to protect the right to vote and stop this unlawful,
targeted voting purge.”
In addition to being inaccurate and outdated, the list the State of
Florida sent to local elections officials to trigger the re-verification
requirement letters, disproportionately targets Hispanics. According to
analysis of those singled out to prove their citizenship, 61% are
Hispanic when only 14% of registered Florida voters are Hispanic. By
contrast, only 16% of those on the state’s purge list are identified as
White when they compose approximately 70% of Florida voters.
“States should not compromise citizens’ fundamental right to vote by
conducting illegal voter purges that disproportionately impact
minorities,” said Katie O’Connor, staff attorney with the ACLU Voting
Rights Project. “Such measures are not only illegal, but undermine our
democracy by keeping people from participating in the political
process.”
Since the State of Florida initiated the voting purge in May, 2012,
hundreds of registered citizens have come forward to re-verify their
citizenship and retain their voting eligibility. Several local elections
officials initially refused to send letters based on the State’s flawed
information and, based on advice the Florida State Association of
Supervisors of Elections, many local elections officials have stopped
sending the re-verification requirement letters.
On June 1, 2012, the ACLUFL and the LCCRUL sent a letter to Secretary
Detzner advising that other parts of the voter purge do not comply with
the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) of 1993 which requires that
adjustments to voting rolls be done more than 90 days before an
election. Florida’s primary election is August 14, 2012. Under the NVRA,
legal action must wait at least 20 days from official notice – which
was made June 1st.
“This is an extremely critical case because it involves the
longstanding Voting Rights Act of 1965 that protects voting rights in
Florida,” said Ed Soto, head of the Litigation department of Weil,
Gotshal & Manges LLP’s Miami office. “Weil continues to be committed
to upholding voters’ rights and enforcing federal law.“
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