Florida to release voter purge list

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Florida’s Secretary of State will release the list of 180,000 voters who had been identified in a voter purge aimed at non-citizens, the Tampa Bay Times reports.

However, none of those voters are in danger of losing the right to vote in next month’s state primary because the list will not be sent to the state’s county election supervisors. A spokesman for Secretary of State Ken Detzner said it will be released after driver’s license and Social Security information have been removed. Both are confidential under the state public records law.

A portion of the list containing 2,600 names, released last month, led to accusations of voer suppression after it was revealed that most of the people identified as “non-citizens” in it were Latino or independent voters.

A U.S. District court refused a request by the Justice Department to issue a restraining order stopping the purge, ruling that a 90-day provision against “systematic” purges did not apply to non-citizens.

“Irreparable harm will result if noncitizens are allowed to vote,” Governor Rick Scott said after the ruling.

In a statement issued Tuesday, the Brennan Center for Justice in New York, which filed a brief supporting the Justice Department, said the list should have been released months ago.

“Any attempt to clean the rolls must be open and accurate,” the statement says. “Florida’s purge has been anything but.”

["Woman Holding A Ballot For Voting" on Shutterstock]