• WWII Veteran among 180,000 Names Purged from Florida Voting Rolls
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[img]http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2012/05/30/12797861_h18080978.jpg?t=1338422738&s=3[/img] [quote]Bill Internicola, a 91-yar-old World War II veteran, was born and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., and now lives in Florida's Broward County. He recently received a letter from county elections officials asking him to show proof he was a U.S. citizen or be removed from the voting rolls. Internicola says he was "flabbergasted." "To me, it's like an insult," he says. "They sent me a form to fill out. And I filled out the form and I sent it back to them with a copy of my discharge paper and a copy of my tour of duty in the ETO, which is the European Theater of Operations." Internicola's was one of more than 180,000 names Florida's secretary of state identified from motor vehicle records as possible noncitizens. Several weeks ago, the secretary's office sent county elections supervisors a first batch of some 2,600 names. County officials, who are also preparing for the state's August primary, started sending out letters to suspected noncitizens, saying they had 30 days to prove their citizenship or be removed from the voting rolls. That's when things started to get hot. "I think most of us know that what this is about is voter suppression," Democratic Rep. Alcee Hastings said this week at a news conference with Internicola. Rep. Ted Deutch, a Broward County Democrat who called the news conference, and other Democrats in the state's congressional delegation wrote to Florida Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican, asking him to immediately suspend the voter purge. "Why is this happening less than three months before an election?" Deutch said. "Why is there only a 30-day period for people to be able to respond? It looks like there is an effort to purge a large number of voters from the rolls whether they're eligible voters or not." Chris Cate, a spokesman for Ken Detzner, the secretary of state, says his office is working to improve the process — spending about $100,000 to update its records. But even with the new list, he concedes it's likely some eligible voters will be mistakenly identified as noncitizens. "We certainly don't want anybody to be inconvenienced by the process," Cate says. "But we also believe everyone will understand that it's in the best interests of our election process to make sure only eligible voters can cast a ballot." Democrats and voting-rights groups say the majority of those targeted by the purge are Hispanics and other minority voters. Last week, a coalition of voting-rights groups sent a letter to Detzner asking him to immediately call a halt to the voter purge because they say it's both unfair and illegal. "It's in violation of the National Voter Registration Act, which prohibits purging voters within 90 days of a federal election," says Penda Hair, co-director of one of the groups, the Advancement Project. "And the reason it prohibits that is because of what's happening here, which is that such purges create chaos. They create intimidation for voters." The secretary of state's office says it reads the law differently and plans to continue its efforts to remove ineligible voters from the rolls. On that front, it's begun a new effort. Florida's top elections officials recently sent to the counties a list of 53,000 people believed to be dead who should be removed from the voter rolls. That's something county elections officials do routinely, using death notices. Susan Bucher, the supervisor of elections for Palm Beach County, says she held off sending letters to people identified as potential noncitizens because she had questions about the state's methodology. With that experience in mind, she's leery about the new list as well. "In the situation with the deceased persons, we have no evidence — they just told us about it," she says. "So I'd like to see some documentation so that I can do some research to make sure that that's not faulty also." Many county elections supervisors, both Democrats and Republicans, are angry about the state pressure to purge voters at a time when they're trying to prepare for Florida's August primary. Democrats say it's a repeat of the 2000 presidential election, when Secretary of State Katherine Harris oversaw a purge of felons that disenfranchised thousands of eligible voters. And here's a reminder of why disputes in Florida over voter eligibility are so important: That election, you'll recall, was decided by just 537 votes.[/quote] [url]http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2012/05/31/154020289/world-war-ii-vet-caught-up-in-floridas-voter-purge-controversy[/url] TLDR: Governor Rick Scott of Florida has used the GOP rhetoric of "voter fraud" as an excuse to remove close to 200 thousand people's right to vote, unless they respond within the next 30 days with proof of their citizenship. A WWII veteran was among them. Thanks for winning the war! Is this what you fought for?
florida's crazy about disenfranchisement their purging of voter registration and of former felons is what caused bush to win the election
I still don't know why this is an inherently bad thing. Normally I side with the left on nearly every issue, but I don't personally see an issue with people having to prove their eligibility to vote. It doesn't make sense to me that people can get away with voting without any proof validating the fact that they have the right to vote. Obviously, a WWII vet getting told to validate his information is a little extreme, but he fought for the right of the citizens to vote, not the right of aliens to vote.
[QUOTE=valkery;36151576]I still don't know why this is an inherently bad thing. Normally I side with the left on nearly every issue, but I don't personally see an issue with people having to prove their eligibility to vote. It doesn't make sense to me that people can get away with voting without any proof validating the fact that they have the right to vote. Obviously, a WWII vet getting told to validate his information is a little extreme, but he fought for the right of the citizens to vote, not the right of aliens to vote.[/QUOTE] Checking peoples right to vote is a good thing. And, I don't really see how they knew he was a WW2 vet or not. But one of the big problems here is checking peoples eligibility to vote enmass, and three months away from elections. Seems like they're up to something.
[QUOTE=Sir_takeslot;36151617]Checking peoples right to vote is a good thing. And, I don't really see how they knew he was a WW2 vet or not. But one of the big problems here is checking peoples eligibility to vote enmass, and three months away from elections. Seems like they're up to something.[/QUOTE] So the entire issue with it is that they are doing it in copious amounts, and near an election, giving you the suspicion that they are up to no good?
To address valkery and Sir_takeslot, Florida already has a system of checks and double checks to prevent dead people and non-citizens from voting, and the people responsible for those levels of safeguarding aren't sure the names getting tossed at them from the governor's administration are accurate. A source in the above article says that there's no documentation coming from them, it's literally just a list of names, and they're being told "don't do your jobs. We checked it out already."
[QUOTE=Sega Saturn;36151706]To address valkery and Sir_takeslot, Florida already has a system of checks and double checks to prevent dead people and non-citizens from voting, and the people responsible for those levels of safeguarding aren't sure the names getting tossed at them from the governor's administration are accurate. A source in the above article says that there's no documentation coming from them, it's literally just a list of names, and they're being told "don't do your jobs. We checked it out already."[/QUOTE] If they provide documentation, what is the problem? Sure it seems shady, but if you think it is shady, ignore it and look for their ulterior motive instead of obsessing over stupid legislation.
[QUOTE=valkery;36151770]If they provide documentation, what is the problem? Sure it seems shady, but if you think it is shady, ignore it and look for their ulterior motive instead of obsessing over stupid legislation.[/QUOTE] Let me put it to you this way. Most of the names on the list were residents of Miami Dade county, which of course is one of the most ethnically Hispanic counties in the nation. A large number of people on the list are full US citizens who only speak Spanish, who will show up in November to their local polling location to find out they can't vote because the government sent them a notice in English nearly six months before the election with an arbitrary "respond before we stop listening" deadline. We have a system in place that works just fine, what this is, is a thinly disguised set of flaming hoops that our governor has decided that the Latinos and Black voters will have to jump through. Also, as far as we can tell, this won't be the end of it either. It certainly wasn't the start of it. Last year the state government imposed a 48 hour filing deadline for group registrations, that would result in a massive fine if violated. The rule had no effect on who was registering, nor did it have any conceivable anti-fraud purpose. It simply made it harder for voters who are illiterate, Spanish-speaking, or working class to find an opportunity to register to vote.
[QUOTE=Sega Saturn;36151911]Let me put it to you this way. Most of the names on the list were residents of Miami Dade county, which of course is one of the most ethnically Hispanic counties in the nation. A large number of people on the list are full US citizens who only speak Spanish, who will show up in November to their local polling location to find out they can't vote because the government sent them a notice in English nearly six months before the election with an arbitrary "respond before we stop listening" deadline. We have a system in place that works just fine, what this is, is a thinly disguised set of flaming hoops that our governor has decided that the Latinos and Black voters will have to jump through. Also, as far as we can tell, this won't be the end of it either. It certainly wasn't the start of it. Last year the state government imposed a 48 hour filing deadline for group registrations, that would result in a massive fine if violated. The rule had no effect on who was registering, nor did it have any conceivable anti-fraud purpose. It simply made it harder for voters who are illiterate, Spanish-speaking, or working class to find an opportunity to register to vote.[/QUOTE] Well to be fair when you move to a predominately English speaking country you shouldn't expect them to bend over backwards for you to understand their notices. You move there expect to learn the language to function properly.
[QUOTE=Gundevil;36152349]Well to be fair when you move to a predominately English speaking country you shouldn't expect them to bend over backwards for you to understand their notices. You move there expect to learn the language to function properly.[/QUOTE] It's not about what immigrant should or should not have done, it's about the government making fairly unmistakble moves to restrict the ability of a section of its populace to vote.
[QUOTE=Sgt-NiallR;36152595]It's not about what immigrant should or should not have done, it's about the government making fairly unmistakble moves to restrict the ability of a section of its populace to vote.[/QUOTE] they sent out a notice in the most common language in the united states. They can't send out a notice in 400 different languages.
Florida is a fucked up state from what GTA: Vice City and the last week or so of Sensationalist Headlines have taught me
Why does it matter that this happened to a WWII veteran? What if the WWII veteran was massively republican, hated marijuana, and voted for Rick Scott? How about some random atheist teenager? How about some Grandma? How about some Grandpa? How about some other soft-spot that the general population has, or more importantly Facepunch has? [B]"Formerly Lost Cat Found in the Dumpster of EA's Offices Among 180,000 Names Purged from Florida Voting Rolls"[/B] I mean, I know this is Sensationalist Headlines and all, but fuck. You could've just typed up "180,00 People Purged from Florida Voting Rolls". But anyway, this is bullshit and there's a war on voting. [QUOTE=latin_geek;36152751]Florida is a fucked up state from what GTA: Vice City and the last week or so of Sensationalist Headlines have taught me[/QUOTE] Holy fuck you are massively ignorant.
[QUOTE=ButtsexV3;36152618]they sent out a notice in the most common language in the united states. They can't send out a notice in 400 different languages.[/QUOTE] No, but how about in the two most commonly spoken languages? How about a local office which translates official notices into languages predominatly spoken in that area?
[QUOTE=ButtsexV3;36152618]they sent out a notice in the most common language in the united states. They can't send out a notice in 400 different languages.[/QUOTE] i know this is kind of hard to understand if you don't live in the midwest or in florida, but here in california about 50% of the population speaks spanish, or at least understands it. literally every government notice is bilingual and a lot are also in french, german, etc. our state handles it pretty well.
[QUOTE=Sgt-NiallR;36152972]No, but how about in the two most commonly spoken languages? How about a local office which translates official notices into languages predominatly spoken in that area?[/QUOTE] You need to be able to speak English in order to get citizenship. Anyone who was physically incapable of reading it probably wasn't a legal citizen.
[QUOTE=latin_geek;36152751]Florida is a fucked up state from what GTA: Vice City and the last week or so of Sensationalist Headlines have taught me[/QUOTE] As a Florida native I can confirm that Vice City is basically a 1:1 recreation and documentary of life there.
Fucking republicans man...
[QUOTE=DarkendSky;36153011]i know this is kind of hard to understand if you don't live in the midwest or in florida, but here in california about 50% of the population speaks spanish, or at least understands it. literally every government notice is bilingual and a lot are also in french, german, etc. our state handles it pretty well.[/QUOTE] For Christ's sake, PENNSYLVANIA DOES BILINGUAL NOTICES. Florida, you ain't got no excuses.
[QUOTE=ButtsexV3;36152618]they sent out a notice in the most common language in the united states. They can't send out a notice in 400 different languages.[/QUOTE] It wasn't the US government sending the letters out. It was the government of Florida. About one in 5 people speak Spanish in Florida, and in Miami Dade the number is about 60%. They were well aware that they were sending out notices in a language that the majority of the recipients would not understand.
[QUOTE=Raidyr;36154069]As a Florida native I can confirm that Vice City is basically a 1:1 recreation and documentary of life there.[/QUOTE] Well I've been to Florida four times and I've had a great time each time. But then again I didn't vote or shoot people, I mostly just sunbathed, swam and para-sailed and other vacationy shit.
[QUOTE=valkery;36151659]So the entire issue with it is that they are doing it in copious amounts, and near an election, giving you the suspicion that they are up to no good?[/QUOTE] why else would they cut it so fine and give them such a miniscule time to respond? [editline]1st June 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=FSU;36152820]Why does it matter that this happened to a WWII veteran? What if the WWII veteran was massively republican, hated marijuana, and voted for Rick Scott?[/QUOTE] who gives a fuck?? the entire point of democracy is you vote for who you want to get in. anything less is unacceptable. i'd rather have a democracy based around voting for the [i]less[/i] corrupt man than anarchy or a dictatorship.
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