SALON

Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012 12:45 AM UTC

Bogus voter purge letters showing up in Florida

By

Topics: From the Wires,

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Official-looking but bogus letters telling mostly Republican voters that their citizenship is in question are turning up in Florida, where GOP officials have led efforts to purge noncitizens from registration rolls.

The phony letters have been reported in 23 counties so far in an apparent attempt to intimidate voters, Department of State spokesman Chris Cate said Tuesday.

Republican Gov. Rick Scott, who pushed for the purge of noncitizens, said Florida has “zero tolerance” for voter intimidation.

“Anytime anybody’s trying to prevent somebody from voting that’s a serious issue,” Scott said. “We’ll get to the bottom of it. We’ll turn over any violations of law to law enforcement. I expect law enforcement to prosecute those individuals.”

Florida Department of Law Enforcement spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger said the agency was monitoring the situation and opened an investigation late Tuesday.

The letters purport to come from various Florida county supervisors of elections but all were postmarked from Seattle.

They tell voters that information received from the state Division of Elections indicates their citizenship is in question and that they’ll be removed from the rolls unless they can prove their citizenship within 15 days.

The letters also warn in bold type that noncitizens who cast ballots “may be subject to arrest, imprisonment, and/or other criminal sanctions.”

Secretary of State Kenneth Detzner sent a message Monday to all 67 supervisors of elections urging them to report the discovery of such letters to his assistant general counsel. Detzner also noted that voter intimidation is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

Cate said officials hope the bogus letters are not retaliation for the noncitizen purge.

“It would be really disappointing if someone tried to use a successful program to commit voter fraud,” he said.

The purge has been criticized for inaccurately identifying voters as noncitizens. The state originally sought to remove 2,600 voters but later revised the list to only 198 names.

The effort also has drawn court challenges. Two federal judges have ruled the purge could continue, but the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has said it won’t resolve the issue until after the Nov. 6 election.

The Florida Republican Party, meanwhile, sent a fundraising letter urging those who support the purge to contribute to the GOP.

More Bill Kaczor.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 0 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: Chekhov's story mirrors Russia's own

Recommendations