Survey: FL voters overwhelmingly back efforts to purge illegals from voter lists

[Tender Branson]

With wide partisan and racial division, and a small gender gap, Florida voters support 60 - 35 percent Gov. Rick Scott's effort to purge non-citizens from the state's voter rolls, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

There are similar partisan and racial divisions, and a wider gender gap, as Sunshine State voters support 56 - 37 percent the state's "Stand Your Ground" law, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University poll finds.

Gov. Scott, however, is still unpopular with the state's electorate, who disapprove 49 - 39 percent of the job he is doing, compared to a 46 - 41 percent disapproval May 24, Scott's best score in his 18 months in office.

Support for the attempted voter purges is 90 - 8 percent among Republicans and 59 - 37 percent among independent voters, while Democrats are opposed 60 - 33 percent.

But unlike the gender split on many major political issues, there is little disagreement among the sexes on the purge: Men support it 63 - 33 percent while women back it 58 - 37 percent. White voters back the purge 67 - 29 percent, while black voters oppose it 56 - 38 percent and Hispanic voters support it 49 - 42 percent.

"Gov. Rick Scott may be a lot less popular in Florida these days than President Barack Obama, but on the face-off between the two on the purge issue, Floridians seem to be solidly in Scott's corner," said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

"Whether this voter purge becomes a big deal issue in the campaign or not is not clear at this point."

Support for Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law is 81 - 12 percent among Republicans and 55 - 39 percent among independent voters, with Democrats opposed 60 - 30 percent.

Men back the law 63 - 33 percent, while women back it 50 - 40 percent. White voters support it 60 - 33 percent, while black voters oppose it 59 - 31 percent. Hispanic voters support the law 58 - 32 percent.

"There is solid support for 'Stand Your Ground' among Florida voters, especially Republicans," said Brown. "Republican lawmakers, who dominate the State Legislature, would be taking on their own base if they were to change the law."

U.S. Senators Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio are doing just OK in the eyes of the state's voters: Nelson has a 47 - 32 percent approval rating, while Rubio's is 51 - 31 percent.

...

From June 12 - 18, Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,697 registered voters with a margin of error of +/- 2.4 percentage points. Live interviewers call land lines and cell phones.

http://www.quinnipiac.edu/institutes-and-centers/polling-institute/florida/release-detail?ReleaseID=1765

[Tender Branson]

U.S. to Let Florida Use Its Data for Voter Check

By MICHAEL SCHWIRTZ
Published: July 14, 2012

The federal government has granted Florida election officials access to a database of noncitizen residents for use in Republican-backed efforts to remove people who are not American citizens from voter registration rolls.

The decision by the Department of Homeland Security, which came after efforts by the Obama administration to block access, was issued in a letter to Gov. Rick Scott’s administration and made public on Saturday. Mr. Scott, along with the state’s Republicans, had been pushing for months to gain access to the database, which is maintained by the department, arguing that it would allow for a more accurate review of voter lists.

The decision could give a boost to what has become a broad push by Republicans in several states to prevent voter fraud by expunging what they say are thousands of ineligible noncitizens from voter lists.

Opponents of the Republican effort, who recognize that people who are not American citizens have no right to vote, have argued that the federal database, the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, was never intended to be used for purging voter lists. They have also charged that the purge could violate voters’ rights laws and be used to discriminate against minorities. With so little time left before elections, they argue, anyone wrongfully purged could be barred from voting anyway.

In June, Florida election officials were forced to halt the search for illegally registered voters amid fears that the lists of suspected noncitizens were deemed outdated and inaccurate.

But a few weeks later, a federal judge struck down a Justice Department request to halt the voter review indefinitely. Mr. Scott has insisted that the review was directed solely at preventing ineligible voters from participating in coming elections, including a primary set for Aug. 14. In a statement on Saturday, Mr. Scott hailed the decision to grant access to the database as a “step in the right direction.”

“We’ve already confirmed that noncitizens have voted in past elections here in Florida,” he said. “Now that we have the cooperation of the Department of Homeland Security, our state can use the most accurate citizenship database in the nation to protect the integrity of Florida’s election process.”

Florida is not the first state to gain access to the SAVE database. The letter granting Florida permission to use it, which was dated July 9, says that five counties in Arizona are now doing so. Colorado has also sought access to the database as part of an effort to cleanse voter lists spearheaded by its Republican secretary of state, Scott Gessler. The program provides immigration status information from more than 100 million records maintained by the Department of Homeland Security.

According to the letter — signed by a Homeland Security official, Alejandro N. Mayorkas, the director of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services — to verify the citizenship status of people registered to vote in Florida, officials must provide evidence, like an alien number, that the person is indeed a noncitizen. Those numbers are typically given to people who are living in the country legally as noncitizens. Under federal law, such individuals are not permitted to vote. The SAVE database can provide no information on illegal immigrants who may have registered to vote.

That restriction will prevent Florida from solely using driver’s license information, as it did when the state compiled its initial list of 182,000 voters believed to be noncitizens. That list was then pared down to 2,600, of which 107 were found to have been registered to vote illegally, according to The Orlando Sentinel.

Civil liberties and voters’ rights groups said on Saturday that while access to the database could provide more accurate information about ineligible voters, the presence of noncitizens on voter lists was likely negligible.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/15/us/politics/us-to-let-florida-use-homeland-security-data-for-voter-check.html

...

Good.

[tmthforu94]

Glad to see this. It seems pretty common sense that illegals shouldn't be able to vote.

[Zioneer]

Well, duh, that goes without saying that they'd support such an effort. But there's two problems with that. First, illegal voters are not as prominent as most people think (illegal immigrants are too busy keeping their heads down and trying to avoid being caught, for one). Second, most people don't know that the "purging illegals from voter lists" is code for "making voter ID laws so stringent that anyone who might vote Democratic can't, based on the criteria of the voter IDs".

For example, some voter ID requirements force you to have a driver's license as a possible ID. But what if you live in the city and have never gotten a driver's license because you don't need one? That hurts minority voters (most of whom vote Democratic), because a lot them live in the city.

On the other hand, in some states, the new Voter ID laws let you use a gun license as ID. And guess who gun owners usually vote for?

[Dereich]

Well, duh, that goes without saying that they'd support such an effort. But there's two problems with that. First, illegal voters are not as prominent as most people think (illegal immigrants are too busy keeping their heads down and trying to avoid being caught, for one). Second, most people don't know that the "purging illegals from voter lists" is code for "making voter ID laws so stringent that anyone who might vote Democratic can't, based on the criteria of the voter IDs".

For example, some voter ID requirements force you to have a driver's license as a possible ID. But what if you live in the city and have never gotten a driver's license because you don't need one? That hurts minority voters (most of whom vote Democratic), because a lot them live in the city.

On the other hand, in some states, the new Voter ID laws let you use a gun license as ID. And guess who gun owners usually vote for?

I was talking to my supervisor of elections who was one of the people to start the illegal voters removal push about it; according to him the main reason for the push in the first place was that some group somewhere in South Florida (I forgot who it was to be honest) wasn't getting proper information and was registering everyone they could get their hands on with the result being that 30000 people who weren't qualified to vote had gotten onto the rolls. Its just spiraled out of control since then.

[krazen1211]

Of course people support this effort. This policy and voter ID are among the most popular policies in government time and time again.

[Tender Branson]

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[CLARENCE 2015!]

No surprise here... also Scott is not nearly as unpopular as some on the left would like to believe. Unemployment is down and I am sure more folks would approve of his actions then approve of him personally- but that will fix itself when the two become linked int he voters minds

[Tender Branson]

No surprise here... also Scott is not nearly as unpopular as some on the left would like to believe. Unemployment is down and I am sure more folks would approve of his actions then approve of him personally- but that will fix itself when the two become linked int he voters minds

According to the article he still got only a 40-51 approval rating though.

[CLARENCE 2015!]

No surprise here... also Scott is not nearly as unpopular as some on the left would like to believe. Unemployment is down and I am sure more folks would approve of his actions then approve of him personally- but that will fix itself when the two become linked int he voters minds

According to the article he still got only a 40-51 approval rating though.

Right... but many Democrats speak as if he has no chance! Those numbers aren't dandy but sure as hell aren't fatal

[Associate Justice PiT]

No surprise here... also Scott is not nearly as unpopular as some on the left would like to believe. Unemployment is down and I am sure more folks would approve of his actions then approve of him personally- but that will fix itself when the two become linked int he voters minds

According to the article he still got only a 40-51 approval rating though.

Right... but many Democrats speak as if he has no chance! Those numbers aren't dandy but sure as hell aren't fatal

     Yeah, he could definitely survive if he gets a weak challenger. Still, I find it interesting that his approval ratings are so lackluster when his policies are popular. I guess he'll want to run on the issues, eh?

[krazen1211]

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Study-finds-voter-irregularities-in-Philly-primary-3717037.php

One of the three city commissioners says an investigation of Philadelphia's April primary has found evidence of voting irregularity and voter fraud.




This is why people support programs and policies that are designed to make the election system more accurate.

[Keystone Phil]

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Study-finds-voter-irregularities-in-Philly-primary-3717037.php

One of the three city commissioners says an investigation of Philadelphia's April primary has found evidence of voting irregularity and voter fraud.




This is why people support programs and policies that are designed to make the election system more accurate.

I'm going to post one comment on this and you'll understand why: Commissioner Schmidt is an ally and, more importantly, a friend of mine. Some of you are friends with me outside of this place and have probably seen me publicizing this news quite a bit. I'm more than willing to debate it there or via private message but because I know Al better than I know some other elected official, I don't want to delve into a bitchfest here. 

[WhyteRain]

Glad to see this. It seems pretty common sense that illegals shouldn't be able to vote.

The article was horribly written (for the Left-run MSM, this was a horrible outcome), so you missed it:  The feds won't help the states stop illegal aliens from voting, only the legal ones.

The state sent 182,000 suspected illegal voters; the list was whittle down to just 2,600 legal aliens, of which 107 were found to be registered.  We can imagine that LEGAL immigrants, by the very nature of their moral character, are far less likely to break the law that are ILlegal aliens by registering to vote.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

No surprise here... also Scott is not nearly as unpopular as some on the left would like to believe. Unemployment is down and I am sure more folks would approve of his actions then approve of him personally- but that will fix itself when the two become linked int he voters minds

According to the article he still got only a 40-51 approval rating though.

Right... but many Democrats speak as if he has no chance! Those numbers aren't dandy but sure as hell aren't fatal

     Yeah, he could definitely survive if he gets a weak challenger. Still, I find it interesting that his approval ratings are so lackluster when his policies are popular. I guess he'll want to run on the issues, eh?

Well, I don't think he's going to run on his $1.7 billion fine for Medicare fraud.