Florida vote purge II

[Classical_Liberal]

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/8600742.htm

''As part of our quality assurance testing, felon and clemency information was run against a copy of the current voter registration database and has identified over 40,000 potential felon matches statewide,'' wrote Ed Kast, director of the state Division of Elections, in a memo sent out to election supervisors on Wednesday.

The issue of felon voting became controversial after the contested 2000 presidential election, when critics said Florida used out-of-state lists to purge former felons, taking voting rights away from people who had committed crimes outside the state but had had their voting rights restored in those other states.

During the 2000 election, some local election supervisors refused to purge their rolls based on the state list, saying they had no faith in how the list was compiled.

NEW DATABASE

State election officials said Wednesday they are relying on a new $2 million database developed after the 2000 election fiasco, which saw George W. Bush win Florida by 537 votes. And they reminded local election officials that under a 2001 state law, they must comply and purge anyone who fails to contest the state's information.

[MasonJar]

1. Well, fellow DUers, are we going to allow this to happen again? We need

an immediate action plan. Please let's have viable ideas.

[Classical_Liberal]

3. One we should write letters to the editor of the Miami Herald

It is not true that the only people purged were felons that had been given clemancy in other states. According to Greg Palast anyone who had a name that matched a known felon was purged creating a 90% error rate.

http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=29&row=2

[OneBlueSky]

2. didn't Kerry say something to the effect that . . .

his people would be all over Florida like flies on shit to make sure that no one was denied their right to vote? . . . over to you, Senator! . . .

[sangh0]

4. Kerry pledges more accurate elections

Kerry pledges more accurate elections

http://www.johnkerry.com/pressroom/clips/news_2003_1229b.html

Democratic Presidential hopeful John Kerry said yesterday that if elected he would appoint a legal team to ensure the fairness of the American electoral process.

“I intend to have a legal team in place that will guarantee us that there will be no question at all (about accurate voting results),” he said at a campaign stop.

“The second thing I intend to do is to win by enough votes that it ain’t gonna matter,” he said, referring to the close vote in Florida during the 2000 election.

In 2000, Al Gore won the popular vote by half a million votes nationally but conceded to Republican George Bush after a 36-day recount in Florida ended without a resolution and prompted a 5-4 Supreme Court vote against him.

The Massachusetts senator was responding to a question from Vi Cookson, a Manchester woman who said she worries that Democratic voters are being turned away from the polls and that voting machines are being manipulated.

During the last election, many black voters in Florida were turned away from precincts or faced long lines near closing time and left without voting.

Kerry said his legal team would ensure that eligible voters are able to cast ballots, and that all votes are counted.

He also said he would challenge polling places where ballot machines lack accountability trails, and he would take action in communities where there is evidence of disenfranchised voters or where voting lists were manipulated.

[rucky]

6. we ARE "his people"

back to you, Floridians!

[napi21]

5. As a voter in Fl, can you check somewhere to make sure you

are registered as an active voter? I don't live in Fl (thank God), but I would think every voter should be able to go to the Voter registration office, or call them, to verify they are registered as an active voter.

I watched Greg Palast on c-span the other day too, and he said there were several problems. One was the purge of the wrong names from the voter rolls, but he also mentioned that there thousands of voters who were newly registered through the Motorvoter program, but their applications were never processed: they just were sitting on someones desk somewhere.

BTW, he also said these problems don not ONLY exist in Fl!

Would it be worth asking voters to double check to be sure their registration is clear?

[sangh0]

9. Don't know how to check, but you can re-register

at https://ssl.capwiz.com/lcv/e4/nvra/?action=form&state=FL&submit.x=29&submit.y=19

[napi21]

10. There has to be a way to check!

I would think a call to the Secretary of State's office should answer the question. That's the office that maintains the records they use at the polls to say you can or can't vote. They have to have a way of verifying your name for you.

[sangh0]

11. I'm sure there is

Google "Florida" and "Board of Elections". Try DU's states forums. It should include a listing for FLorida's Bd of Elections

[NewYorkerfromMass]

7. Can these people cast provisional ballots?

If they argue right up to election day that they are wrongly being listed as felons, can they cast a ballot for later qualification?

[sandnsea]

8. Sunshine Law??

Can we get a copy of the list? Get Moveon or somebody to pay to have it published? Mass drive to get every single person in Florida to call and make sure they're on their local voter list? I can't believe they have the audacity to do this again.