Feds and Florida headed to court over voter purge

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A legal standoff has developed between Florida and the Obama administration over a contentious voter purge pushed by Gov. Rick Scott.

Florida filed a lawsuit in a federal court in Washington D.C. on Monday that demands that the state be given the right to check the names of its registered voters against an immigration database maintained by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The lawsuit came the same day that the U.S. Department of Justice announced its plan to ask a federal court to block the state from pushing ahead with removing potential non-U.S. citizens from the voter rolls. It contends that the state’s effort violates federal voting laws.

The latest action follows a lawsuit filed last week against the purge by a Hispanic civic organization and two naturalized citizens that was backed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida.

The purge won’t have much impact immediately. Nearly every county supervisor in Florida has suspended efforts to remove any of the potential non-U.S. citizens identified by the state. They’ve spotted errors in the purge list and don’t want to run afoul of the federal government.