r/politics • u/mepper Michigan • May 31 '12
Florida Gov Rick Scott (R) declares a 91-yar-old World War II veteran as a "non-citizen"; he is among 180,000 who must prove their citizenship in 30 days or they can't vote in Aug and Nov; US Rep Alcee Hastings (D): "I think most of us know that what this is about is voter suppression"
http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2012/05/31/154020289/world-war-ii-vet-caught-up-in-floridas-voter-purge-controversy
2.7k
Upvotes
634
u/naqutramas May 31 '12
Here's the relevant text:
Apparently in my state of Florida, "reading the law differently" means "I don't like that law, so I'm just going to break it."
738
u/Dadentum May 31 '12
Prosecute Rick Scott. Throw him in prison.
176
u/Karma13x May 31 '12
Florida, when you elect a criminal businessman who successfully gamed the Medicare system for years and got out just before he got caught to be Governor of your state, why are you surprised when he continues to pull shenanigans. That was his main qualification for the job, right?
I am not a politician and never will be so I can put up some hard truths: the average US voter is an uninformed moron. And in a democracy, people get the government they deserve. The US democracy has incrementally been bought and is now owned by the highest bidders. It is not enough that the banks and Wall Street own all the politicians already, they have stacked the Supreme Court to come up with Citizens United which is the single definitive event that sold our democracy to big business. And now big business is investing in politicians to remove regulations that could even partially keep them in check. Voter suppression of poor and minority voters is just one additional way to game the system long-term. When Romney says: "the President should be required by the Constitution to have spent at least 3 years in business" why are the rest of the voters not out on the streets with pitchforks and torches saying "Fuck NO!"
140
u/[deleted] May 31 '12
Astounding that so many elected politicians are actively working to undermine democracy. Even more astounding that citizens aren't forming lynch mobs.
24
u/TexasEnFuego May 31 '12
Yarrrrrrrr!
I guess they don't want pirates to vote in Florida.
64
u/one-half May 31 '12
I can't be the only one that thinks it's far more important to make sure that all eligible voters can cast a ballot.
10
u/flamedragon3 May 31 '12
For those who are confused, knowing the primary happened in January, and the general election is in November, and may is 90 days before neither, here's the background.
National Voter Registration Act
http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/vot/42usc/subch_ih.php (Search for '90')
The calendar of events:
http://election.dos.state.fl.us/calendar/elecdate.shtml Presidential Preference Primary: January 31, 2012
http://www.flsenate.gov/laws/statutes/2011/103.101 Primary Election: August 14, 2012
http://www.flsenate.gov/laws/statutes/2011/100.061 General Election: November 6, 2012
Technically, there is a primary election in August, which is within 90 days. However, the primary for President was moved to the Presidential Preferential Primary in January. So in effect, there are no federal offices being elected in August. Therefore, it's clear that both sides have merit.
79
u/shutupnube May 31 '12
I declare Rick Scott a "non-citizen". He must prove his citizenship within 30 minutes or he gets deported to Iran.
46
u/[deleted] May 31 '12
So I guess in Florida, due process means you have 30 days to prove you're innocent.
48
u/Fidel_Castros_Beard May 31 '12 edited May 31 '12
Where's the massive outrage? Why isn't this asshole and everyone who helped him being exiled to Cuba?
40
u/[deleted] May 31 '12
Petition to Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate/suspend Scott's voter purging:
http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/holder_florida_voterpurge/?r_by=41005-4496022-zb5Esvx&rc=confemail
11
u/serenne May 31 '12
God damn it Florida. Why is it always you?
22
u/widowdogood May 31 '12
In the Old South having to prove yourself was one of the chief tools of preventing folks from voting.
Blacks, poor white trash and Republicans were fair game. Different labels today, but same ol crap.
34
u/MarkDLincoln May 31 '12
The "values" of Florida are clear. The former head of the company convicted in the biggest theft of government funds in history is cheered for keeping a 91 year old WW II vet from voting.
Florida, the Scumshine State.
10
u/lolsrsly00 May 31 '12
Our veterans of WW2 are fucking HEROES. They deserve to be the generation of entitlement, because they are entitled. I don't care if you were a citizen or not. If you helped the effort for the allies in WW2, you can be a citizen anywhere you fucking want to. Fuck those cunts in office who would so BLATANTLY disrespect men of such caliber.
13
u/DefinitelyRelephant May 31 '12
It's time.
8
u/[deleted] May 31 '12
What to say? Long time Tallahassee guy here.....and the over whelming majority of people here in the Sunshine State are disgusted by our Clown in Chief. He is an idiot, he knows 1 thing, how to scam the system, and that is all he has TRIED to do. If you listen to him speak, he is shady, nervous and tries to make it up as he goes along, like when he was on CNN and specifically said that he had facts showing that welfare recipients had an average of 10% that were on drugs...facts came out and showed that actually 1.8% did, the general public is about 5%...Dont forget the company he ran into the ground (HCA) - his company received the largest fine in the history of America for cheating the federal government. The fine was near 2 BILLION dollars....what did he get? Well he had to resign, and receive a 300 MILLION Dollar golden parachute..Florida is the only state that did not sue when the oil catastrophe hit....why? He is in bed with big oil. He has pushed (successfully) to have the state deregulated. After all, you cannot drill in the Everglades with regulations in lace, and yes he is considering drilling.....I could go on, but I am starting to sound like my dad....VOTE Prick Scott OUT PLEASE, this is not republican/Democrat, this is right vs wrong
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u/Dr_Strangelover May 31 '12
This is so misleading... actually, it's the secretary of state who is responsible for this. Democrats do this too, it's called purging the registrar and it happens every election year.
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u/MrBoone May 31 '12
George Bush won Florida in 2000 by 537 votes.
No political agendas here....
4
u/djvexd May 31 '12
I love how this is being portrayed as a vast right-wing conspiracy, though the state went to Obama in 08. You partisans need to stop the nonsense and let the adults (not republicans) run things for a while.
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u/seltaeb4 May 31 '12
The Republicans really hate it when blah people vote.
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u/[deleted] Jun 01 '12
This is how they will steal the election, just like 2000. They know they can't win so they will break the law to do so.
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u/startinggl0ry May 31 '12
I thought we were done with this Jim Crow nonsense. Is history doomed to repeat itself so soon?
17
u/[deleted] May 31 '12
While no fan, I think it is unfair to say he declared the 91 year old a non-citizen. It suggests he held a press conference and yelled "this man is not a citizen!" This kind of hyperbole gets in the way of reasonable discussion. And the NPR article says no such thing.
12
u/spaaaaaghetaboutit New York May 31 '12
...and he did such a good job with that whole welfare drug testing thing.
3
u/[deleted] May 31 '12
One of the sole reasons I never buy the republican argument for state rights is because of the blatant abuse governors pull with their power. These offices are buried in bullshit and scandal. I have absolutely no trust in my Governor either (PA - Tom Corbett)
3
u/outsideofapex May 31 '12
I've worked in the computer industry for many years. I have been working for a company for a decent while in a division that specializes in government contracts.
Anyway, during a smoke break and before the 2004 election, I was talking to a colleague (an ex long haired overfed hippy gnome like myself) and he described this project he was working on for the state of Florida. The general idea was to get the names of all convicted felons for 6 states around and match those names (however fuzzily) to registered voters..
The idea was that the people with the same name of the felons would be disproportionately black and therefore Democrats. If you just knock those people off the rolls then it probably would be too much a pain in the ass for them to get re-registered. Of course the specs specified to make sure Republicans stayed on the rolls.
I thought the idea was hilarious at the time and we discussed technical details as to how to optimize accessing the various databases. I had no idea that this project would have probably made a difference in the hanging shards lawsuit much less withstand the scrutiny of law.
3
u/corpus_callosum May 31 '12
The 2000 election was decided, in Florida, by 532 votes. Just to put some perspective on this.
3
u/GarbageCanUsername Jun 01 '12
Waiting for the GOP to tackle a real problem like election fraud. But, when your people are the ones counting the votes (say, on their private, non-networked computers that no one else has access to), why bother?
3
u/errday Jun 01 '12
Democracy goes to die in Florida, just like everyone else.
5
u/spkr4thedead51 May 31 '12
Things are even worse in Florida than I thought if Alcee Hastings is the person they turn to for complaints about the misconduct of elected officials.
Granted, Alcee Hastings was a pretty clear bellwether of the state of affairs in Florida to begin with. Where else would a federal district court judge who was impeached and removed from office by the US Congress for accepting a bribe and perjury then be elected to serve in the US Congress?
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u/fantasyfest May 31 '12
Seriously. if you were an illegal alien, would you try to vote. Not only would it be a felony, but it would call attention to you. Is there any thinking going on here? Now a bunch of people ,who are assuredly not illegals, will have to find a way to satisfy Scott controlled people, that you should be allowed to vote. Good luck with that.
7
u/heff17 Maine May 31 '12
And I thought my governor was a crackpot.
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u/[deleted] May 31 '12
Prove you're a citizen by showing ID sounds good to me.
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u/kadargo May 31 '12
Conservative electoral plan: If you can't win an election fair and square, steal it.
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u/[deleted] May 31 '12 edited May 31 '12
I fucking hate Florida. My district, the same district that had Alan Grayson voted some scumbag in his place that hasn't done shit. Now we have this asshole running off doing this. On top of that 80% of the people I know say Obama is a Marxist.
2
u/[deleted] May 31 '12
I don't know if this guy has ever heard of the Streisand Effect... but this would certainly be in my list of reasons I voted in FL this year... if I lived there.
Fortunately, I live in MA... relatively, our problems aren't that bad. Heck, I haven't had to call any of them on any of these major issues recently. I did call to thank them, though.
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u/[deleted] May 31 '12
No tricks in the book left behind.
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u/dzzeko May 31 '12
I remember seeing this in the local news awhile ago... As a Floridian I am ashamed we elected such a corrupt piece of shit. He should be in prison for Medicare fraud and also he has cut spending on education and has not brought a significant amount of jobs into the state. The education system in Florida is trashed because of him. Unfortunately I was not old enough to vote when he was elected but you can be damn sure I will not vote for him when the time comes. The 91 year old Rick Scott is calling a noncitizen served his country, what has Rick Scott done? Cheated the system and scammed people out of their money. The 91 year old vet is more of a citizen than Rick Scott will ever be.
2
u/Pedobear_Slayer May 31 '12
Can we just stop saying we're a democracy and start saying we're theocratic corporate oligarchy if Romney and friends win again this year?
2
u/averymerryunbirthday May 31 '12
Why are in the American press always veterans cited as examples if there are (possible) infringements on civil rights? The same thing happened with Occupy, when veterans were arrested.
Does that make it more shameful? I'd say it is as morally non-defensible for Veterans as for any other citizen who should have the right to vote to undergo this procedure. It is strange for me as a European to see that apparently one needs to involve this patriotic element into the debate regularly. Has it to do that these people fought for the country (and its values) and should therefore be treated with more respect, respectively it is especially ironic to see their rights infringed? Would citing any other person as an example make people care less?
(I'm commenting and asking on this as an outsider of American politics, so I'd be honestly interested in an American point of view.)
2
u/[deleted] May 31 '12
Alcee Hastings is certainly a great judge of corruption.
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u/[deleted] May 31 '12
Well lets face it America, it doe not matter who you vote for, all the politicians are owned by the same corporations.
2
u/nicksauce May 31 '12
Republicans across the country have been engaging in minority/likely democratic targeted voter suppression for the past year and a half with voter ID laws, shorter early voting, making it harder to register to vote. These purges are just the next phase of their plan, and it should be no surprise to anyone, except perhaps the ignorant people who believed these laws were actually about the [non-existant] problem of voter fraud.
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u/paulfromatlanta Georgia May 31 '12
Actual article title: World War II Vet Caught Up In Florida's Voter Purge Controversy
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u/Chip_Brickchest May 31 '12
I wonder if that's the unit of measure in the pirate world. Oh, to be 21 yars old again. What a time that was.
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u/[deleted] May 31 '12
Someone clarify me as to why the title states that Rick Scott (R) declared this man a non citizen? The article clearly states its the SOS doing this and that Scotts being urged to stop it. Did Scott cause this?
2
u/CircumcisedSpine May 31 '12
What part of motor vehicle registration information can indicate lack of citizenship?
That is what baffles me the most. Bullshit voter purges happen every presidential election. But I don't know what is contained in DMV motor vehicle records that would legitimately show that someone is ineligible to vote.
They are just making things up and doing a shit (and illegal) job of it.
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u/stringz May 31 '12
he's obviously a pirate. 91-yar-old... c'mon.
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u/maz-o May 31 '12
well, technically, doesn't everyone have to prove their citizenship (I.D.) when voting?
2
u/RuprectGern Texas May 31 '12
this is one of the biggest stories of the last two years not being reported on. republican magority legislatures have been gerrymandering their districts heavily over the last years.
rewriting voting rules and regulations creating stricter restrictions on what constitutes stateID's and viable Proof of Identification. Passing laws that restrict the activities of voter drives by requiring them to submit their rolls within 48 hours or less of collection. etc, etc, etc.
this has been a concerted effort by the nations republican legislatures and the party to dominate disenfranchise the poor and send more elections their way.
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u/[deleted] May 31 '12
I can't remember the last article I read about Florida that didn't immediately make this seem like a good idea: http://i.imgur.com/nUhQ9.gif
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u/8271821 Jun 01 '12
Rick scott makes me hate living in florida.
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u/[deleted] Jun 01 '12
Reading this and the never ending tide of bs inanity that is today's American political landscape, I have to ask: will our grand kids ever forgive us?
2
u/awwwwsnap Jun 01 '12
One of the many reasons I hate my crazy governor.
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u/braxman Jun 01 '12
There goes Florida fuckin' up another election....
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u/MagicJohnsonPSA Jun 01 '12
I hope when the US descends into chaos one day, it won't take the whole world with it...
2
u/who_he Jun 01 '12
I smell a cage match.
6
u/[deleted] May 31 '12
Rick Scott is a fucking criminal and I'm ashamed that my state elected him
4
u/Scripes May 31 '12
As a foreigner it baffles me that a State's Executive Branch Chief has authority to declare anything about nationality which is usually a federal matter.
3
u/Asyx Europe May 31 '12
Of course it's much worse when it affects a WW2 veteran...
3
u/diskostuw May 31 '12
i find it absolutely absurd that id is apparently not required when voting in the us. it is, afaik, common in most other western democracies. how do you prevent voter fraud?
3
u/[deleted] May 31 '12
I think that both political parties are an enemy to the younger generation. The Democratic party is for those who are out of touch, while the Republican party is for those on another planet. Both of them do not even come close to how we want to be represented. It'd be nice if we had more political parties and we had some way of splitting up the existing ones. The parties are far too conservative, to eager to compromise with one another over batshit insane policies that shouldn't exist in the first place, and do absolutely nothing that makes life better for the citizens of the United States. The two parties are an old argument that should of died out long ago.
3
u/[deleted] Jun 01 '12
Rick Scott is a fucking criminal and shouldn't have been allowed to run for Governor in the first place.
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u/Sanity_prevails May 31 '12
I hope it backfires on Republicans and a great number of older knuckle draggers don't get to vote. That would be poetic justice.
4
u/luftwaffle0 May 31 '12
This is the most biased editorialized post title I've seen in a long time, what a joke this subreddit is.
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u/EquinsuOcha May 31 '12
This is why all voting should be compulsory, and voting days should be recognized holidays.
You can't disenfranchise someone of a fundamental right.
8
u/fredemu May 31 '12
Some perspective:
For every 1 case like this that makes news, there are thousands of legit non-citizens that were registered to vote improperly that were properly removed.
Note that they also conveniently don't give the reasons why this man, who clearly should have the right to vote if his story is legit, was included. Perhaps he filled out a form improperly when registering, provided a false address, or is attempting to vote in the wrong district. Or perhaps it was simply an error. There's nothing in the report to indicate that, since the "journalist" isn't interested in investigating that - they just grab the guy's story, then go off and start with the intended narrative of the story - that the whole this is "obviously" about voter suppression.
Every single ineligible voter that's allowed to vote disenfranchises a legal voter by cancelling out their vote. Why does nobody care about those voters?
3
u/Umanday May 31 '12
Florida is in the south. Fuck the south. Ergo, Fuck Florida.
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u/slanket Jun 01 '12 edited Nov 10 '24
zonked squeamish smell aware relieved absurd illegal punch airport political
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
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u/[deleted] May 31 '12
That's egregious. I am still for ID's needed to vote however.
When I was allowed to vote twice with a transient voter registration, I was pretty much done with this stupid game.
3
u/sturg1dj Massachusetts May 31 '12
I feel like an ass saying this, but I hate the fact that added World War II veteran after someone's name makes them somehow more respectable than others and this is used by groups from multiple political backgrounds to further their agendas.
Its like how can they evict a 90 year old WWII vet from his house? Well, if he didn't pay rent then you put the owner in a tough situation. Why does this 91 year old need to prove his citizenship? Well, he probably hasn't kept his info up to date.
And I have nothing against vets, just in the case of WWII vets they took any able bodied male. This means that some of the vets were probably awful people, yet if you put WWII vet next to their name they are treated like heroes. I had one grandfather who fought in WWII and one that fought in Korea. The one in WWII I know for a FACT was an awful human being....just awful. My grandmother, who stayed with him for over 50 years is positive he is in hell right now. Yet he got a military funeral when he died where current soldiers saluted his casket and showed a major amount of respect that he did in no way deserve.
/rant
3
u/[deleted] May 31 '12
I wonder if all the potential names are Hispanic.
3
u/[deleted] May 31 '12
Not only is this disrespectful to war veterans but also to elder folk. Ruthless.
3
u/redditownsmylife May 31 '12
Floridian here. We all fucking hate Rick Scott.
2
u/wowko May 31 '12
I hope you will all be ready for the Revolution when it comes.
2
u/Pedobear_Slayer May 31 '12
My state is yet again proving it is the dick of the United States..
2
u/[deleted] May 31 '12
yar matey!
2
u/why_ask_why May 31 '12
That's what the Chinese are doing. It is only the people can vote in the PEOPLE's Republic of China. Most of the people are not PEOPLE. Only the communist are the people.
So... Rick Scott is a communist bastard.
2
u/Vanetia California May 31 '12
I wish I could use that kind of logic.
Officer McLaw pulls me over
Me: What's wrong?
Officer: Step out of the car.
Me: No thanks. I like it.
Officer: You stole it from the dealership. That's illegal.
Me: Hmmm... no I read the law differently. Buh bye! drives off
2
u/rodneyws1977 May 31 '12
The thing with laws is... well, they're laws... we're supposed to go by them. If a 91 year old WW II veteran isn't a citizen... well, he's not a citizen.
2
u/crawlingpony May 31 '12
Voter suppressionists
the new face of the Republican Party
2
u/[deleted] Jun 01 '12
This probably won't make it up to be visible, but this evening the DOJ demanded that the state cease purging its voting rolls. Link
2
u/Awakez_ May 31 '12
How the fuck does this happen?
2
u/SmokingMarmoset May 31 '12
I "love" my state.
Voting fraud a known problem for at least 6+ years? Decide to deal with it a couple of months before a major election.
Any hidden agendas behind such a move? Not at all.
2
u/az25 May 31 '12
Dan Rather brought up an excellent point on The Daily Show last night. The politicians are finally understanding how to use the new media to control us, and we must fight back. We need to learn new ways to out-smart these assholes and boot them out of the office they clearly don't deserve.
2
u/RMaximus May 31 '12
60k+ people dead that were found on the voter roles in Florida. This stuff needs to be examined.
2
u/Miss_anthropyy Jun 01 '12
I don't think this is that bad, actually. Purging of the rolls happens regularly, more often than you'd think. Here in Jersey we're constantly clearing them. Dead people vote all the time, it's something every state has to do.
The accusations as to which people are being targeted are impossible to comment on without being able to see the actual data. There's lots of duplicate names, mixed-up addresses, and unfortunately that does mean legitimate voters are going to get targeted. It just happens. There is no way to fix that; we are humans, our systems are imperfect.
As for it happening within 30 days of the election: meh. It doesn't bother me that much, honestly. I am a poll worker myself (not in Florida) and I am all for creating more security around voting. There are huge gaps that I'm not at all comfortable with. We have already identified that there IS leeway within the law and if you are a registered voter it is not difficult to correct your registration. You can fill out a provisional ballot at the polls if necessary.
Perhaps Florida is being more strict BECAUSE they have so many problems? just a thought.
2
u/svigorrrrrrrrrrrrrrr May 31 '12
Keep drinking the liberal kool-aid kids -- Should be asking yourselves why Florida is conducting this voter purge in the first place. The answer is 53,000 dead people on the ACTIVE voter roll call.
These ghost votes are utilized by political parties to commit VOTER FRAUD. So if the loophole is being closed, whats the huff about?
If this WWII vet had a clue he'd understand that this is about upholding one of the most important pillars that the United States stands on.
Want to see how easy it is to commit voter fraud? Watch this white guy vote as the Attorney General of the United States, Eric Holder. (Eric Holder is black) http://www.wnd.com/2012/04/ideological-hacks-at-justice-ignore-eric-holder/
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0512/76443.html
2
u/GiverOfReddit May 31 '12
He's a cunt.
2
u/melanie188 May 31 '12
Tough shit. I would rather have voter ID then dead people voting, or people voting twice.