How Florida Governor Rick Scott Could Steal The Election For Mitt Romney

[limpyhobbler]

On Wednesday, November 7, Mitt Romney could wake up as the President-elect thanks to one man: Florida Governor Rick Scott. With little fanfare, Scott is undertaking an audacious plan to kick thousands of Floridians off the ballot just before this year’s elections. It’s a sloppy, chaotic and possibly illegal plan. But it just might work. Here’s how:

1. Scott has created a massive list of Floridians to purge from the voting rolls before the election. Late last year, Governor Scott ordered his Secretary of State, Kurt Browning, to “to identify and remove non-U.S. citizens from the voter rolls.” But Browning did not have access to reliable citizenship data. The state attempted to identify non-U.S. citizens by comparing the voting file with data from the state motor vehicle administration, but the motor vehicle data does not contain updated citizenship information. The process, which created a list of 182,000 people, was considered so flawed by Browning that he refused to release the data to county election officials. Browning resigned in February and Scott has pressed forward with the purge, starting with about 2600 voters.

2. The list of “ineligible” voters is riddled with errors and includes hundreds of eligible U.S. citizens. According to data obtained by ThinkProgress, in Miami-Dade county alone, 1638 people were flagged by the state as “non-citizens.” Already, 359 people on the list have provided the county with proof of citizenship and 26 people were identified as U.S. citizens directly by the county. The remaining 1200 have simply not responded to the letter informing them of their purported ineligibility. Similar problems have been identified in Polk County and Broward County.

3. Scott’s list is heavily targeted at Democratic and Hispanic voters. A study by the Miami Herald found that “Hispanic, Democratic and independent-minded voters are the most likely to be targeted in a state hunt to remove thousands of noncitizens from Florida’s voting rolls.” For example, Hispanics comprise 58 percent of the list but just 13 percent of eligible voters. Conversely, “Whites and Republicans are disproportionately the least-likely to face the threat of removal.”

...

complete piece: http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/05/28/491120/how-florida-governor-rick-scott-could-steal-the-election-for-mitt-romney/

[monmouth]

1. DOJ need to make themselves known down here and right now. The Florida Democratic party

along with Wasserman Schultz are a big disappointment.

[limpyhobbler]

5. Yes this needs to be investigated.

I'm not sure about Rep. Wasserman-Schultz, don't know much about her. But I feel like there must be something illegal going on with this latest voter suppression scheme.

[montanacowboy]

2. Taking a page from Katherine Harris

pulling the exact same shit they did for bush jr.

If this is not fixed now you can kiss Florida goodbye

Another fixed election

[KamaAina]

3. Business as usual in America's Wang

Google "ChoicePoint Florida".

[limpyhobbler]

6. ha hah ha, you said 'America's Wang'.

Hadn't heard that one before.

Yes it seems to be standard operating procedure down there.

[KamaAina]

9. Simpsons reference

Marge's doctor recommended she move down there for the climate. Homer: "Florida? But that's America's Wang!"

[SoutherDem]

4. There is a reason they are called Election Rights and not Lefts

They are only for the right.

While Florida is important my bigger worry is this tactic is pick up by every red state.

[limpyhobbler]

7. Repugs know the only way they stand a chance is cheat cheat.

[DirkGently]

8. He'll absolutely try. Scott is more corporate infiltrator than politician.

[obliviously]

10. Why do we need dead voters to win?

[limpyhobbler]

12. Whatcha mean?

That went right over my head. :whoosh:

Which are the dead voters?

[obliviously]

14. 50,000 dead voters

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/27/voter-purge-florida-showdown-minority-voting_n_1547541.html?ref=elections-2012

[limpyhobbler]

15. I think the concern is the living voters who are being purged from the voter rolls.

I confess I don't see your point on the dead voters.

Are you OK with the voter purging going on in Florida because you think it is addressing a legit problem?

[sadbear]

13. It will wind up in court no matter what happens

It worked (for them) 12 years ago.