Tag Archives: Judicial Watch

Lawsuit claims Florida voter removal violates federal law

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A coalition of voting rights groups has sued Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner, arguing that state efforts to remove voters from rolls violates the National Voter Registration Act.

The suit — filed June 19 by the Advancement Project, Fair Elections Legal Network, LatinoJustice PRLDEF and Project Vote — is one of several that have emerged since Florida Gov. Rick Scott launched an effort to remove non-citizens from voting rolls earlier this year.

Kathy Culliton-Gonzalez of the Advancement Project traces the voter purge, she said, to the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch.

Judicial Watch and True the Vote, which trains volunteers to watch polls, sued Indiana elections officials June 11, alleging that the state is not maintaining accurate voter rolls. Judicial Watch maintains a list of up to a dozen states, including Florida, that the organization plans to sue for the same reasons, president Tom Fitton said.

Florida is taking “reasonable steps” to do things right, Fitton said, and emphasized that any eligible voter who gets accidentally removed can vote provisionally. Any suggestion that Judicial Watch or True the Vote is participating in a nationwide effort to suppress minority or Democratic votes is ridiculous, Fitton said.

By AJ Vicens, News21

True the Vote, Judicial Watch sue Indiana over voter registration list

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Judicial Watch, a conservative government watchdog group, and True the Vote, a tea party-backed group that trains poll watchers, filed a lawsuit against Indiana June 11, alleging that the state violated federal law by failing to maintain an accurate voter registration list and to provide records of those efforts.

“Indiana’s election officials are shirking their responsibility to maintain clean voter registration lists,” Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, said in a statement. “This is our first lawsuit. We plan to sue other states who failed to take reasonable steps to remove dead and ineligible voters from the rolls.”

Indiana elections officials, including Secretary of State Connie Lawson, were traveling and couldn’t be reached for comment June 11, communications director Valerie Kroeger said.

Catherine Engelbrecht, president of True the Vote, said in a statement that the lawsuit was about “restoring integrity” to American elections.

States such as Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, California and several others can expect lawsuits as well, Fitton told News21. This is Judicial Watch’s second voter issues-related lawsuit in two weeks.

Judicial Watch has been working with True the Vote and the Election Law Center since at least February, when the three announced the 2012 Election Integrity Project.

That effort was to “pressure states and localities, through Judicial Watch lawsuits if necessary, to clean up voter registration rolls pursuant to Section 8 of the National Voter Registration Act.” The group claimed that voter rolls in nearly a dozen states contained ineligible voters. Judicial Watch sent letters to election officials in Indiana and Ohio, warning of lawsuits.

By AJ Vicens and Tasha Khan, News21

Coffee Break Ballot, June 11: Current Trends in Voting Rights

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Welcome back to the work week! As the controversy over Florida’s voter roll clean up/ voter purge grows, media attention also seems to be heating. You’ll find an update below from one our News21 reporters on how voting registration organizations reacted to the judicial hold on Florida’s 48-hour registration reporting requirement.

Other curious developments this morning include a new lawsuit brought against the state of Indiana by the policy action groups Judicial Watch and True the Vote, requesting that the state perform a purge to verify voter rolls.

More on that later, but first a look at what we’ve been reading over the weekend and this morning.

What We’ve Been Reading

“Texas bracing for legal battle against feds over voter ID law,” (Gary Martin, 06/11, Houston Chronicle)

“Interfering with voting rights,” (Editorial Board, 06/10, Washington Post)

“Commentary: If anyone is committing voter fraud in Michigan, it is Republicans,” (Mark Brewer, 06/09, Detroit News)

“Scott accuses Obama administration of ‘stalling’ on database to check voters,” (George Bennett, 06/11, Palm Beach Post)

“Breaking: Judicial Watch and True the Vote Sue Indiana on Voter Roll Cleanup,” (Election Law Center, 06/11, ElectionLawCenter.com)

Twitter Trends

The weekend is usually a quiet time for social media interaction on voting rights. Over the weekend, progressive activists had a bit more to talk about, as the 2012 Netroots Nation conference in Providence, R.I., presented a panel on what it called a “War on Voting.” Panelists included Nation reporter Ari Berman, Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., Rep. Keith Ellison, D.-Minn., and Keesha Gaskins, Brennan Center for Justice senior counsel.

Mentions of this panel bounced around Twitter Saturday, Sunday and this morning, as users react to and interact on issues raised in the panel.

We’ve also seen Twitter commentary on a panel discussion from NPR’s Diane Rehm Show this morning featuring the Brennan Center’s Wendy Weiser, the Heritage Foundation’s Hans von Spakovsky and ElectionLine.org’s Doug Chapin.

For more on what we’re reading and reporting, follow @WhoCanVote on Twitter.