Hood denies voter purge list has errors

In the face of national publicity over a list of possible felons who could lose the right to vote, Secretary of State Glenda Hood on Tuesday reiterated the steps being taken to ensure no one is struck from the voter rolls in error.

Hood denies that the list has errors, instead emphasizing that compiling the list of 47,763 names is only the first step in the process.

Now it falls upon independently elected county election officials to verify that the people on their lists are felons before purging them, she said.

Those officials have been instructed to check with the courts for criminal records and to send registered letters to those on the list. If the letters are undeliverable, an ad is to be put in a local newspaper noting that a hearing has been scheduled.

A May 5 memo from Hood's office says election supervisors "must" remove voters from the rolls even if they're not found and given the chance to prove they're eligible to vote. State law says supervisors face first-degree misdemeanor charges if they willfully neglect their duties.

But Dawn Roberts, director of the state Division of Elections, said Tuesday that her office has no legal authority to compel county officials to remove names.

Furthermore, there's no specific deadline for the election supervisors to complete the process of going through the list. It's expected that many counties won't get through the list in time for the Aug. 31 primary and perhaps not for the Nov. 2 general election.

"If the Legislature had wanted to put in a time frame and a deadline, it could have," Roberts said.

Newspapers and other media across the country carried headlines over the weekend that the latest election controversy could "threaten" Gov. Jeb Bush because it brings back memories of the 2000 election and could become a rallying cry in the Democrats' attempt to beat President George W. Bush in November.

Roberts said the new process is "a positive step in changing the law since 2000."

Perhaps thousands of eligible voters were struck from the rolls in 2000 because a faulty list was used and the process was more automatic than this year.

But election officials' assurances were little comfort to civil-rights groups calling for the state to dispense with voter purges until it can get it right.

"Instead of taking responsibility for a list that could cause an Election Day disaster, the Division of Elections is shifting accountability and leaving Florida voters in the dark," said Sharon Lettman-Pacheco, national director of the People for the American Way's Election Protection Program.

98.0977 Statewide voter registration database; operation and maintenance.--

(3)(d) When the supervisor of elections finds information through the database that suggests that a voter has been convicted of a felony and has not had his or her civil rights restored or has been adjudicated mentally incompetent and his or her mental capacity with respect to voting has not been restored, the supervisor of elections shall notify the voter by certified United States mail. The notification shall contain a statement as to the reason for the voter's potential ineligibility to be registered to vote and shall request information from the voter on forms provided by the supervisor of elections. As an alternative, the voter may attend a hearing at a time and place specified in the notice. If there is evidence that the notice was not received, notice must be given once by publication in a newspaper of general circulation in the county. The notice must plainly state that the voter is potentially ineligible to be registered to vote and must state a time and place for the person to appear before the supervisor of elections to show cause why his or her name should not be removed from the voter registration rolls. After reviewing the information provided by the voter, if the supervisor of elections determines that the voter is not eligible to vote under the laws of this state, the supervisor of elections shall notify the voter by certified United States mail that he or she has been found ineligible to be registered to vote in this state, shall state the reason for the ineligibility, and shall inform the voter that he or she has been removed from the voter registration rolls. The supervisor of elections shall remove from the voter registration rolls the name of any voter who fails either to respond within 30 days to the notice sent by certified mail or to attend the hearing.

98.0977 Statewide voter registration database; operation and maintenance.--

(3)(e) Upon hearing all evidence in a hearing, the supervisor of elections must determine whether there is sufficient evidence to strike the person's name from the registration books. If the supervisor determines that there is sufficient evidence, he or she must strike the name.

The whole "purged felons fiasco" is a direct result of the company hired to do the checking using databases rather than on site courthouse research.

There is no database in America that is accurate to the degree required to screen employees effectively, let alone voters with felony convictions. The FBI doesn't have one, nor does any single state, nor does any organization within our Federal system.

Which is why employers are specifically forbidden to make "hire / no hire" decisions based solely on databases.

Whats irritating to me is the politics are obscuring the real problem. That, and I could fix it myself in less than 14 business days. All my company would need is the names, SSN's and DOB's. It would cost approximately $310,000 to get it done.

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