State party officials consider using the list to challenge felons who attempt to vote Tuesday.
Florida's Republican Party has revived a felon
purge list so flawed that state election officials were forced to scrap
it in July. Party officials revealed Thursday that they may pick up
where the state left off, using their power on Election Day to
challenge individual voters whose names appear on the list. The
original purge list, created by the Florida Department of State, was
dropped because a data glitch excluded Hispanics, who tend to vote
Republican, while including thousands of blacks, who more often vote
Democratic. If Republicans use the list to challenge felons who attempt
to vote, that could cost the Democrats thousands of votes and might
decide the election, which is expected to be close. In 2000, George W.
Bush won Florida by 537 votes. The GOP has not decided if it will use
the list on Tuesday, said Mindy Tucker Fletcher, senior adviser to the
Republican Party of Florida. Tucker concedes that the Republicans'
purge list contains the same flaws that led the state to scrap its
version. The list of 14,000 voters includes only 19 Hispanics. They
were excluded by a "flaw" in the way the state's original data were
formed.
Before the Republicans revealed that they were
reviving the purge list, Gov. Bush told the St. Petersburg Times
Wednesday that it was proper for poll watchers to challenge the
eligibility of voters on Election Day. "I don't think it will cause
problems," Bush said. "I do think that people who are not eligible to
vote shouldn't and the people who are should." Democrats called the
revival of the list an abuse of the election system that will
disproportionately disenfranchise Blacks. [more]
Where is the Fruit of Islam (FOI)? The
Democratic Party should have hired these guys to ensure orderly
conditions on election day. IF some FREAK Republican steps to me while
I am voting I will leave 'em butt naked hanging from a tree.
