A day after the state and federal government announced they were suing each other over Floridas attempt to clean up its voter lists, Gov. Rick Scott took the Sunshine States case to the nations electronic airwaves.
Scott spent Tuesday morning doing interviews on a Tampa TV station, cable giants Fox News and CNN, and on radio via Americas News Network and Bill Bennetts Morning in America.
The primary topic was Florida taking the Obama administration to court on Monday to gain access to the Homeland Security database, and counter plans by the Department of Justice to go to court to demand Florida halt the search for non-U.S. citizens on the voter rolls.
Were trying to fix our voter rolls and theyre trying to stop us, Scott said while on Fox News. It doesnt make sense.
Scott also urged listeners to call their congressional representatives to pressure Homeland Security to make the database available to Florida.
I would [ring] your congressmen, your U.S. senators, and say What is going on here that you ... the federal government ... are preventing Florida from making sure the voter rolls are proper, Scott said on Bennetts Morning in America.
Interviewed by Christine Romans on CNN, Scott said, "Everywhere I go I tell people 'I want you to vote, it's an important part of being an American that you be part of the system and vote. But I don't want people who aren't entitled to vote to do it, and I don't think any citizen does."
Meanwhile, the states ongoing review of more than 180,000 potentially questionable voters is actually on hold because Floridas 67 county supervisors of elections halted the effort to assist the state as the exchanges grew between Florida and the DOJ.
The state had already sent 2,600 names to county supervisors to further check for their citizenship status.
Scott said about 100 people have been found on the voter rolls that were noncitizens, of whom approximately 50 had voted in prior elections.
The state claims it has tried since September 2011 to get DHS's help in finding noncitizens among Floridas registered voters.
The DOJ announced it would also head to court, declaring that the state is in violation of federal law for conducting the check of voter status within 90 days of an election.
A few questions were also offered on the states Stand Your Ground law, as the Florida Task Force on Citizen Safety and Protection is meeting today in the Central Florida community of Longwood.
Scott was focused on the need to get Homeland Securitys Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements program (SAVE) database, which Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner has repeatedly claimed will provide the state with a better means to check the legal status of voters.
I want to make sure that Florida voters that have a right to vote, get to vote, and their (votes) are not diluted by non-U.S. citizens, Scott told Fox & Friends.
Ive asked for the database, which were entitled to from Homeland Security to help us make sure that non-U.S. citizens are not on our voter rolls, and they havent given it to us for nine months and now theyre telling us were doing something wrong.
The word he used for the lack of action by Homeland Security -- while appearing on Bennetts Morning in America -- was stonewalled.
Scott also objected to the contention byDOJ Assistant U.S. Attorney General Thomas Perez who wrote that the SAVE database requires immigration-related identifiers and documentation, which the state hasnt confirmed would be available.
We know that individuals are voting in our state illegally, theyre non-U.S. citizens. We know the best database is the SAVE database, Scott said while appearing on CNNs morning news program "Starting Point." Weve asked for it for months from Homeland Security, we want to work with Homeland Security to get it. So weve done all the right things. We dont have a choice but to sue to get the database were entitled to.
The DOJ has claimed the states effort to remove voters may violate the 1965 Voting Rights Act -- requiring federal preclearance before undertaking any changes in Monroe, Hillsborough, Collier, Hardee and Hendry counties, which have past experience with minority-voting problems -- and that because of the 1993 National Voter Registration Act, time has run out for the review before the 2012 elections.
"In short, your claim that the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security have worked in concert to deny Florida access to the SAVE program is simply wrong," Perez wrote.
"By your own admission, Florida has been on notice for at least eight months that the SAVE program can verify naturalized and derived United States citizens only if Florida provided the appropriate numeric identifiers, and where necessary, the underlying documentation. But Florida has failed either to provide the necessary information to DHS or to confirm that the necessary information would be available for verification purposes under the SAVE program."
The state is currently using its Division of Highway drivers license records, which Florida officials admit are not up to date on providing accurate citizenship status.
The states effort to clean the voter rollsalso drew a lawsuit last week from the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida which aimed at stopping the state,and claimed Scott and Detzner were using political spin to hide the intent of removing voters.
Its not partisan, Scott told Bennett. I want everybody that has a right to vote in our state, go register to vote and participate in our election. But if youre a non-U.S. citizen, dont do it.
Bennett asked if members of the Democratic Obama administration favored non-U.S. citizens voting because they would tend to vote Democratic.
I hope not, Scott replied, I hope they take their job seriously like I do.
Reach Jim Turner at jturner@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 215-9889.
