The Department of Justice has ordered the State of Florida to stop removing non-citizens from its voter rolls, the Miami Herald reports. The DOJ sent a letter to Florida officials Thursday night expressing concern the state’s clean up was violating the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which protects minorities, and the 1993 National Voter Registration Act, which governs voter purges.
So far, Florida has flagged 2,700 potential noncitizen voters and sent the list to county elections supervisors, who have found the data and methodology to be flawed and problematic. The list of potential noncitizen voters – many of whom have turned out to be lawful citizens and voters – disproportionately hits minorities, especially Hispanics.
The DOJ has given Florida until Wednesday to submit a plan in accordance with section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which dictates the DOJ must approve any changes to the state’s voting system.
Florida is deciding whether to fight the DOJ on its interpretation of the law. The state claims they were “stonewalled” for nine months by the administration and specifically names the Department of Homeland Security as being uncooperative. The DHS has data on citizenship but refuses to share that database information with Florida. As a result, the state has tried to make these determinations based on its own resources.
A full response from the state is expected soon.