Brennan Center for Justice

Florida Purges Could Mistakenly Kick Voters off the Rolls

A Florida election official last week claims to have found 182,000 voters who may not be citizens, but the state used a “flawed process” to identify these voters “by relying on an outdated driver’s license database,” The New York Times reported. As a result, many eligible citizens may be incorrectly purged from the rolls.

Manoly Castro-Williamson, “a U.S. citizen and a registered Republican who has voted in every election in Florida since 2004,” was one of those on the list, reported the Tampa Bay Times. Hispanics were the most likely to be identified as potential noncitizens, comprising 58 percent of the list despite accounting for only 13 percent of population.

Election officials should take all steps necessary to make voter rolls accurate, the Brennan Center’s Myrna Pérez told the Huffington Post. “But that work must be done with great care, after a detailed look at the records and well in advance of elections.”

Florida has a history of abusive voter purges. In 2000 and 2004, state officials removed thousands “from the rolls if the person’s name and birth date were found to be an ‘80 percent match’ with that of an ineligible voter.” Pérez explained that this “method is not only imprecise, but statistically likely to capture both eligible and ineligible voters.”

Read more of the Brennan Center’s work on voter purges, and about similar efforts in New Mexico and Colorado.

Florida – More commentary on the recent attempted voter purge: The Miami Herald columnist Myriam Marquez called it “another attack on immigrants in the name of fighting voter fraud.” Robyn Blumner at the Tampa Bay Times said it is an “odd time to purge voter rolls.” Also see this column in El Nuevo Herald, the Spanish-language version of The Herald. The Palm Beach Post spoke to the Brennan Center’s Lawrence Norden about the simple steps election officials can take to prevent errors with voting machines.

Georgia – The state will have online voter registration after the 2012 election.

Hawaii – An online voter registration law is awaiting signature by Gov. Neil Abercrombie (D).

Kansas – Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s plan to require proof of citizenship for first-time voters in the 2012 election died in the state Senate. The citizenship requirement will begin in 2013.

Michigan – An audit found "evidence suggesting dead people and prisoners may have voted” in state elections in the past three years. The Secretary of State’s office attributed most of the instances to clerical error or individuals who “may have legally cast an absentee ballot and died before the election.”

Mississippi – GOP Gov. Phil Bryant signed a voter ID law, but it still needs approval by the Department of Justice. The law promises the state will provide free photo ID cards to those who need one, but there is no funding to do so, the Associated Press reported. Read more here and here.

Missouri – A voter ID referendum will not be on the ballot in November. A state judge struck down the wording of the ID measure in March, asking the legislature for a revision because it was “insufficient and unfair.” Because there was no movement on the ballot measure before the end of the legislative session, the amendment is “effectively killed.”

New Hampshire – A voter ID bill passed the House 226 to 115. It would require one of four types of photo ID, but voters who do not have an ID can “sign a voter affidavit and have their photo taken.” Election officials have opposed the measure because it would take effect this year, which they say does not give them sufficient time to implement the law. Read more here and here.

New York – An overheated voting machine caused more than 30 percent of votes in a South Bronx precinct to go uncounted in 2010. Recent tests found the machine misread ballots and cast “phantom votes” when it malfunctioned. The Brennan Center filed suit warning of the possible errors before the election. But the election went ahead without any modifications. The recent revelations came about during discovery in the ongoing litigation. Read our report on lost votes in New York.

North Carolina – A local group compiled a list of 553 voters who they say could be non-citizens. A TV station conducted a similar analysis and debunked the claim, saying, “every potentially voter identified was a U.S. citizen,” WRAL reported.

Ohio – Gov. John Kasich (R) signed a repeal of a controversial election law, which included restrictions on early voting and voter registration. Opponents say the move was not a full repeal because it did not restore early voting for the three days before the election. The law was set to be on the ballot as a referendum this fall, and the repeal sets the stage for possible litigation. Read more here.

Pennsylvania – Voter ID supporters asked to intervene in a suit challenging the state’s new law. One state resident wrote a letter to the editor explaining how difficult it was to help an 86-year-old woman obtain an ID to vote. A Republican State Senator introduced an online voter registration bill, a measure supported by The Scranton Times-Tribune.

Texas – State Sen. Rodney Ellis (D-Houston) wrote to the Secretary of State asking her “to make sure Texans understand the state’s voter photo ID law does not apply for the May 29 primary election.”

Virginia – Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) signed a voter ID bill into law late Friday. He issued an executive order directing “the State Board of Elections to send out new voter ID cards statewide at a cost of about $1.3 million.” Read more here and here.

Wisconsin – A report by two experts for plaintiffs challenging the state’s voter ID law has found minorities less likely to have acceptable voter ID than whites. “Eligible African-American and Latino voters are, respectively, 182 percent and 206 percent more likely to lack accepted photo ID than their white counterparts,” the report states. A UW-Oshkosh professor wrote in an op-ed that the “voter ID law is unfair to college students.”

Don't forget our up-to-date online summary of all pending and passed voting laws.