J.E.D
Gold Member
- Jul 28, 2011
- 14,159
- 2,229
- 280
- Banned
- #1
“It appears that the State of Florida is unwilling to conform its behavior to the requirements of federal law,” wrote Thomas Perez, assistant U.S. attorney general and head of the federal law enforcement agency's Civil Rights Division. ... The significant problems you are encountering in administering this new program are of your own creation."
The Justice Department letter accuses the state of violating two laws. One, the Voting Rights Act, was put in place in 1965 to protect black and Latino voters who had faced poll taxes, literacy tests, alternative voting times or facilities. The law requires five Florida counties, along with a handful of mostly Southern states with histories of voter discrimination, to seek federal approval before changing voting policies or procedures. More than 60 percent of the voters declared suspect in Florida are black or Latino, according to a Miami-Herald analysis.
A second federal law, the National Voter Registration Act, requires states to make efforts to maintain accurate voter rolls. It also forbids states from removing voters from their rolls within 90 days of a federal election. Florida holds a congressional primary in August and the presidential election in November. The 90-day window began May 16, according to the Justice Department.
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