Florida suspends Gov. Scott's voter purge efforts

Florida's election supervisors announced their decision Friday evening to stop the controversial effort of Governor Rick Scott's (R) administration removing names off the state's voter rolls, according to The Palm Beach Post.

Spurred by the Department of Justice delivered a letter to Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner that the name purging was illegal, the state's Supervisors of Elections president Vicki Davis acknowledged the numerous mistakes located in purging eligible voters off the rolls.

"There are just too many variables with this entire process at this time for supervisors to continue," David said.

One area serving as the prime example of the Scott administration’s mistakes is Miami Dade County, a predominantly Democratic area. 1638 people in the county were flagged as “non-citizens” by the state. However, at least 359 people already provided information proving their citizenship. An additional 26 people were identified as citizens by the county itself.

Supervisors acknowledged that they failed to send letters to those individuals getting removed from the voting rolls that would have given them 30 days to provide proof of citizenship to vote.

The Justice Department gave Detzner until this Wednesday to respond to their letter. The Florida Secretary of State indicated that he would respond on time, but said his state "will continue to act in a responsible and cautious manner when presented with credible information about potentially ineligible voters."

(Photo credit: Gage Skidmore)