Florida pushing to remove potential felons from voter rolls [View All]

[kskiska]

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - (KRT) - The state's push to remove thousands of "potential felons" from voter rolls is causing angst among local election officials, who worry about inaccurate information, unfair results and yet another round of election-year lawsuits.

Orange County Elections Supervisor Bill Cowles, who has almost 2,200 potential felons to verify, said computer data supplied to counties by the state is riddled with problems, including wrong names and criminal charges that may have been reduced.

Under state law, it is county election officials, not the state, who must verify convictions and notify people who would be dropped from voter rolls.

"You have to sift through it all - and that comes down to us," said Cowles, a Democrat. "We become the one who needs to face the voter."

State officials have identified nearly 50,000 voters as "potential felons" who could be stripped from voter lists - many of them Democrats and minorities who could swing an election in a state where Republicans and Democrats are roughly equal in number.

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http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/nation/8670508.htm