County officials worry about felon purge in Florida
The state's push to remove thousands of "potential felons" from voter rolls [in Florida] is causing angst among local election officials, who worry about inaccurate information, unfair results and yet another round of election-year lawsuits.
Orange County Elections Supervisor Bill Cowles, who has almost 2,200 potential felons to verify, said computer data supplied to counties by the state is riddled with problems, including wrong names and criminal charges that may have been reduced.
Under state law, it is county election officials, not the state, who must verify convictions and notify people who would be dropped from voter rolls. ...
Already, the American Civil Liberties Union, NAACP and other groups are pressuring county voting supervisors not to purge any voters unless there is hard proof they are felons, who by law cannot vote.
The ACLU also is threatening lawsuits. In a letter to all 67 county election officials, ACLU of Florida Executive Director Howard Simon warned that counties must be careful because they're the last line of defense. -- Counties fear errors in plan to cut felons from local voter lists (OrlandoSentinel.com)