Several groups and individuals on Friday asked a federal court to block Florida from carrying out its purge of potentially ineligible voters from the rolls.
A Hispanic civic organization and two naturalized citizens — backed by the American Civil Liberties Union and others — filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Tampa seeking to halt the purge. Two days ago, the administration of Republican Gov. Rick Scott rejected calls by the federal government to stop the effort.
"The illegal program to purge eligible voters uses inaccurate information to remove eligible citizens from the voter rolls," said Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida. "...We now look to the courts to stop the Scott administration from assaulting democracy by denying American citizens the right to vote."
The lawsuit is likely to have little immediate impact because most local election supervisors have halted the removal of voters, citing conflicting legal opinions from the federal government and state officials.
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