Justice Department files suit against Florida to stop voter purge

Fun fact: Flattering pictures of Gov. Rick Scott
do not exist. (Andrew Innerarity/Reuters)
 

It's now been made official; the Justice Department has filed suit against Florida Gov. Rick Scott's attempt to purge voters from the rolls. From the press release:

WASHINGTON – The Department of Justice announced today that it has filed a lawsuit against the state of Florida and the Florida Secretary of State in his official capacity alleging that the state has violated its obligations under Section 8 of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA).

The complaint, filed today in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, alleges that Florida has violated the NVRA by conducting a systematic program to purge voters from its voter registration rolls within the 90-day quiet period before an election for federal office established by the law.  In addition, the complaint alleges that Florida’s use of inaccurate and unreliable voter verification procedures violates the requirement in Section 8 of the NVRA that any such program be uniform and nondiscriminatory.

This immediately follows Gov. Rick Scott's announcement that his administration would be suing the Department of Homeland Security in order to obtain that department's own citizenship lists for use in Florida's purge efforts.

I would think they'd have an easy case here; 90 days is 90 days, and when you've got even Republican elections officials saying the purge lists are unreliable, well, there you go. Whether that actually means the purge will be stopped is another question. Rick Scott seems to be going full Sheriff Joe on this one.