Floridians waiting to vote, sometimes for hours
The
Tampa Bay Times is
reporting that DOJ will be monitoring voting irregularities in Florida election and is asking for citizens to report suspected abuses to a voting hotline.
In Tampa, U.S. Attorney A. Lee Bentley III issued a statement in which he said, "Every citizen should be free to vote without interference and to have his or her vote count, without the fear that it will be stolen because of fraud. The Department of Justice will act promptly and aggressively to protect the integrity of the voting process." Bentley said public complaints should be reported to Assistant U.S. Attorney Bob Mosakowski at 813-274-6129.
In a news release, the U.S. attorney's office said it is on alert for harassment or intimidation of voters, including "videotaping voters at polling places under the pretext of uncovering violations of federal voting rights laws."
In August, former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder sent a strongly-worded letter to Gov. Rick Scott, saying the feds would be "carefully monitoring" voting in Florida. At the time, Scott called Holder's letter "pure politics" and said it was "just them trying to help Charlie Crist."
Rick Scott has a history of trying to
suppress the vote in Florida by any means possible. Under Scott,
Florida leads the country in ex-felon disenfranchisement; reversing trends for ex-felon voter participation under Governor Charlie Crist.