Voter purges will be done right this time, according to Secretary of State Ken Detzner.
The custodian of the Laws of Florida said purging non-citizens from voter registration rolls will be “case-management” work, reports Bill Cottrell in the Florida Current, and double-checked by a minimum of two Division of Elections employees, prior to confirmation from a federal database.
So far, Detzner said there is no starting date for the practice criticized by Democrats, who see it as “thinly disguised voter suppression.” Similar accusations derailed Gov. Rick Scott’s plan to remove voters last year.
This time Florida will use the “Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements,” a federal Department of Homeland Security database. SAVE was not available last year, but are now are helping county elections supervisors work with Detzner’s department for security clearances allowing them to tap into the system.
“I don’t really have a time schedule. This is case-management work, so you manage one case at a time,” Detzner told the Current.
Detzner said he has not been pressured to start the purge, from Scott or any other state official.
This month, the Secretary of State starts a five-city trip to meet with county elections officers – who have the final say on deleting registrations from voter rolls. Detzner will hear concerns, feedback and suggestions.
Detzner would not say if noncitizens or ineligible Floridians trying to register to vote is a significant problem for the state.
