Credit: Reuters/Joe Skipper
MIAMI | Mon Jun 11, 2012 8:04pm EDT
MIAMI (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department and Florida exchanged legal salvoes on Monday over the state's controversial effort to remove non-U.S. citizens from its voter rolls ahead of this year's presidential election.
Florida filed a lawsuit against the federal government, seeking access to a national database detailing citizenship information as part of its drive to verify whether non-citizens are illegally registered to vote in the state.
Shortly afterward, the Justice Department said it had initiated steps to sue Florida for violating federal voting laws.
The maneuvering escalated a legal battle between Washington and Republican Governor Rick Scott over his push to purge Florida's voter lists, which is alleged to have misidentified hundreds of people who turned out to be U.S. citizens.
Supporters of the purge say it is aimed at clearing voter rolls of non-citizens. However, critics call it a part of long-running Republican efforts to deter minorities and the poor, who tend to vote Democratic, from casting ballots.
Florida, which President Barack Obama won by 2.8 percent in 2008, is expected to be a key swing state in the November 6 presidential election.
Filed in a U.S. district court in Washington, D.C., Florida's lawsuit accused the federal government of preventing the state from being able to check the citizenship status of voters by denying it access to a U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) database listing information on U.S. citizens.
"For nearly a year, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has failed to meet its legal obligation to provide us the information necessary to identify and remove ineligible voters from Florida's voter rolls," Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner said in a statement.
"We can't let the federal government delay our efforts to uphold the integrity of Florida elections any longer," he said.
FEDERAL CONCERN ABOUT "INACCURACIES"
Earlier this month, the Justice Department called on the state to halt the effort.
Last week, in a letter responding to a U.S. Justice Department statement that the purge could be illegal, Detzner said that it was the Obama administration that appeared to be violating the law by not granting Florida access to the database known as SAVE.
On Monday, U.S. Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez wrote back to Detzner in a five-page letter and said it "appears that the State of Florida is unwilling to conform its behavior to the requirements of federal law."
He said because of Florida's "unwillingness to comply with these requirements, I have authorized the initiation of an enforcement action against Florida in federal court."
Perez also said he was concerned about "inaccuracies" in the state's request for access to SAVE.
"The SAVE Program relies on DHS records, which do not include a comprehensive and definitive listing of U.S. citizens and does not include, for example, those born in the United States," he said.
He said Florida had failed to provide key information to cross-reference with the database including alien registration numbers or certificate numbers found on immigration-related documents.
"Florida has failed either to provide the necessary information to DHS, or to confirm that the necessary information would be available for verification purposes under the SAVE program," he said.
"As a result the significant problems you are encountering in administering this new program are of your own creation," Perez added.
According to the Miami Herald, Florida's current list of potential non-citizen voters includes many people who are lawful citizens. One voter singled out as suspicious turned out to be a Brooklyn-born World War Two hero with a Bronze Star from the Battle of the Bulge.
A disproportionate number of those identified on a state list of 2,700 possible non-citizens are either Hispanic or black.
(Reporting By Kevin Gray; Editing by Eric Walsh)
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