Rick Scott is using the same tactics in FL that Jeb Bush used in 2000 to defraud AL Gore of the Presidency (A consortium of National newspapers later studied all the votes that WERE NOT COUNTED in 2000 and ascertained that, IF ALL THE VOTES IN FLORIDA WERE COUNTED IN THE 2000 PRESIDENTIAL RACE, AL GORE WOULD BE THE PRESIDENT INSTEAD OF GW BUSH!

I think there should not be non citizens that can vote.

Once again we are going to be saddled with the costs of our State fighting a legal battle with our Federal Government, so the only winner in this is the lawyers!!! This money would be better spent on programs for the homeless, the needy and other Social Programs that seem to be set for eradication by the Republican Party!!!

Based on what has happened so far, more eligible voters will be denied their vote than non-eligible people will be found. Unless a simple and efficient system is found immediately, stop the purge!
Jimbo

In my opinion, no person should be able to vote unless they demonstrate a very minimal amount of knowledge on the topics and issues of the day. I am not saying it should be difficult but uninformed voters can not accurately assist in setting the direction of our country - - regardless of legal or illegal.

Rick Scott in his true inept fashion is trying to steer Floridians away from problems in this state that he hasn't remedied in his term by distracting us with a racially charges issue that will divide Floridians . Hitler did it in a bigger scale to the Germans to distract them from their economic woes. Politicians do this to save their own skin and don't care what the consequences are as they hide behind the belief they are trying to do the right thing. It is pathetic.

Bill ??? Who might construct this test of current events that you suggest ??? To my mind that smacks of the literacy tests that where used during the regime of Jim Crow and his numerous friends.

In order for a person to cast a ballot they must affirm, under penalty of law, that they are a qualified elector. That they are a citizen period. Where you to fraudulently register to vote, you would be committing a third degree felony. As such you are subject to five years in prison and a five thousand dollar fine. How many people have been charged under the existing statues in the past year or five years?

Is there some real need for a new voter id card? At what cost would this card be issued? Why have Supervisor’s of Election, who are responsible for conducting elections, seemingly turned a deaf ear to Ricky Scott and his efforts to purge the rolls of non citizens? Have the local supervisors been falling down on the job? I don’t think so, but that seems to me to be the implied suggestion from Tally.

In the 2000 race, there were voters in Florida who had been registered in FL for 20 years and were found to be U.S. Citizens, yet they were denied the right to vote in 2000 due to the shenanigans of Jeb Bush and Katherine Harris

we should be helping people get to the poles, encourage voting and leave the process to a democratic fair vote.

What kind of question is this??? Only U.S. citizens are allowed to vote. Doesn't anyone read the constitition??? I'm a Democrat, but regardless of who wins or loses, if we can't have a fair election, let's just give the country back to the Indians.

How is this even a question?
If you aren't a citizen you shouldn't be able to vote.
I'm baffled that verifying the list of elligible voters is a problem.....

I can't believe I am the only person that feels that voters need to be informed before they vote, at least to a basic level. Before you drive a motor vehicle, a written and driving competency test is required. Gun safety tests and a license are required before anyone can take carry a shotgun hunting. Others can be hurt if these drivers and hunters aren't proven to be knowledgeable. Our country is being hurt at every election because voters are not knowledgeable.

In this Post 9/11 world you SHOULD have some sort of ID that identifies us as citizens of the U.S.A.! .....and have HARSH penalties for producing fake ones.

I am not a big fan of our governor but this is one thing that I agree on big time. Why should a non citizen get to vote n something using my tax dollars? That doesn't make much sense does it? How did they get registered to vote in the first place? Politicians wanting to swell the voter rolls and sneak bad votes in is why.

It's not so much WHAT is being done - yes, only eligible US citizens should be allowed to vote - but HOW the purge is being done - that is in question. The wrong tactics and done too late to be resolved before the elections. Governor Scott's actions at this time smacks of alteriors motives. His is a growing list of such actions. His election to the governor's poistion is a perfect example of Bill's point that people should inform themselves of who and what they are voting for before they vote.

Get rid of the Illegal Voters, what doesnt the Administration understand with the word Illegal? When they become legal THEN let them vote until then NO, This is one issue both parties should agree on IF they want a fair legal election.

I wish I had all the words to describe how strongly I oppose fraudelent voting. Voting is for citizens. It is taken away from felons, and should be for illegals too. You want to vote? Go through the proper channels and become a citizen. Nothing should be available for non citizens. No voting-no medical-no food stamps-no welfare.Get it the right way!

Why wait until election time to pull this, it makes it look like it's being done for the wrong reason. The job should be a yearly or bi yearly check done by the office of elections, that is part of their job. This is a shield to change the upcoming elections. I agree that the cost of fighting to do this is will cost the state money that we don't have and add to the bad name that Florida has earned at voting time in the last 12-13 years.

No non citizen should be allowed to vote. NO ONE on either side of this debate is arguing that point. The simple fact of the matter is that NOT ONE CASE OF VOTER FRAUD HAS BEEN PROSECUTED IN THIS STATE. However... HUNDREDS OF CASES OF LEGAL CITIZENS HAVE BEEN DENIED THE RIGHT TO VOTE THROUGH THIS WITCH HUNT. NO one should be denied the right to vote because they have a hispanic last name!!! What individual gain is there for an illegal migrant worker to vote???? He would only be exposing himself to the threat of being caught!!! This is a NON-ISSUE being made out to be a BIG issue by those who would deny the right to votee to minorities... JIM CROWE all over again!

Voting accomplishes nothing. Power comes from guns,

The way this voter purge is being undertaken is highly dubious. Of course those not eligible shouldn't be allowed to vote, but like it's been stated before, there was not a widespread problem before these Voter ID laws began spreading around. If Scott's gone too far this time, I hope the Feds intervene.

You know what the Democrats say....VOTE EARLY AND OFTEN! You should not be allowed to vote unless you can produce a valid ID. Democrats have used the excuse that voters have been turned away from the polls and come to find out it was because the voters showed up at a voting site other than the one they were assigned to or they didn't have their voter id cards or any photo id. Those people should not be allowed to vote. Go Rick Scott and your staff for standing up for citizens who do the right thing. I will vote for you again come next election.

citizen should be the only one's voting, not illegals that just want to get on the entitlement line at the tax payers expense.

Kind of like his drug testing plan! Worthless

I would just like the people that have a right to vote... VOTE..
It's pretty sad the turn out at our local elections. Seems to me that's were the whole process starts.
One person can make a difference. Not a fan of Scotts..... I vote the issues not the Party...

This governor could not care less about who is eligible to vote. He spent 75 million of the fortune he made on medicare to buy his way to the mansion. He lied and pandered to the unthinking to get enough of them to vote for him to be elected and then start wreaking havoc on everything from the environment to education. He has made no attempt to keep his main promise as a candidate -700,000 new jobs. This latest nonsense is simply to divert attention from his utter failure to lead, his cluelessness as to what is important and his continued pandering to his buddies on the fringe. He won't spend on what's important but the credit card comes out for his pandering.

Personally, I have no problem with a photo ID for voting. We basically can't go anywhere without ID, you know, drive a car, buy certain products etc. So, what's the dif, right?

Here is something to think about. Ever since Johnson and his "Great Society;" letting the Politicians hands get hold of the Social Security funds,( how's that working for ya?) things have slid down ward. Now, the Gov't wants or should I say demands that illegals remain and more to infiltrate the country. It's for a tax base, they foresee as a way of getting more funds to widen the welfare system of this country. Everybody loves to get things for free, as long as they feel it doesn't interfere with their lives; they could care less of others or their country as long as they get theirs for free.

Just something thrown out there in the stew, you know?

Ok, lets review: Not a citizen? YOU CAN'T VOTE!!! Its the law. Failure to route out these ILLEGAL voters and FAILURE to remove them from the voting roles is dereliction of duty as a governor!
Since the President is fighting this, what does that make him??? Gov Scott needs to tell the DOJ to stay out of this unless they they can produce a law that mandates non-citizens voting in Florida.

I am a registered Democrat for about 55 years. I vote the person or the issue,as I see it...not the Party. I try to stay informed on issues. I believe that all LEGAL citizens have the right to vote and that they should be able and required to produce legal identification in order to cast their vote. It's the law! Enforce it!

Thank God there are still a FEW people in this area with some common sense and not just a bunch of lemmings following their parties over a cliff while trying to take the rest of us with them.

A clarifying article to address some concerns raised by commenters...

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/301900/who-may-vote-florida-hans-von-spakovsky?pg=1#

Florida is operating by the law, observing the 1993 National Voting Rights Act, the 2002 Help America Vote Act as well as State election law. No longer do we have to have a disabled vehicle of voter integrity stuck on the side of the road due to lack of maintenance of the 'motor voter' law's provisions since its inception 10 years ago. There has been no good Samaritan around to come to the aid of the stranded legally registered voter in that vehicle. Gov. Rick Scott is following the rules of the road. 'How dare he?', some like T Rex contend. For him to continue ignore those rules is to be against the law. His actions are not a 'D' or 'R', left or right response. It is a matter what is wrong or right.

I don't think illegals should be allowed to vote or criminals or anyone else that is not a properly qualifed registered voter. However, what Scott and the Republicans are doing is blatanly trying to destroy the Democracti's voter base. If the rolls are that bad why are heads not rolling in the Voter Registratioon Department in Floriida? Scoot is runnning scared, he has not live up to his promises. What he has done left
our state wide open to devlelopment with no locat intervention, cut back viciously on our eduacation budget (the future of our country), he threw away a once in a lifetime opportunity for rapid transit system between Tampa and Orlando, just threw it BACK!,, This is all part of the BIG REPUBLICAN PLAN. If you are in middle class millions of americans you better pray they don't take the Presidency and Congress because you can kiss you Social Security, Health Insurance and life as you know it today over as they cut everthing as quickly as they can and destroy this country.

Sue and all, I ask that you reach out to your local Supervisor of Elections. As a new resident of Florida I spoke with mine to understand how the system has been designed. They were very helpful and took the time to explain where the difficiencies are and how they got there. I also refer back to my comment made on June 8. The posted article details the relationship between the federal government and state election laws.

In my opinion, it's another example of Mr. Holder obstructing justice.
Of course, voters should be able to identify themselves, as validation of eligibility.
A person needs identification to drive or fly. A person needs identification to get a drink. Identification is often required to obtain a hotel room, or write a check in a department store, or cash a check in a bank. It's only reasonable to expect identification when voting for our leaders.
It's not difficult for eligible voters to obtain appropriate identification. We all need identification. It's a silly arguement.

Greg, you already have a state issued card enabling you to vote. It is called a Voter Registration Card.

Sue ??? Specifically who is advocating that non citizens be allowed to vote???

Scott ??? Why do you envision empowering the Governor with a set of broad new powers, when the authority to review and correct voter registration is mandated to local officials? These powers are in the hands of the locally elected Supervisor of Elections as well as the local State's Attorney?

This has got to be a Patch record for the number of posted comments! I suspect simply the combination of our Governor and The President in the headline is what’s driving this. I suggest an experiment: post an article where the headline is “Barack Obama and Rick Scott to have Ice Cream Eating Contest”. I’ll bet that, regardless of article content, you’ll get a flurry of passionate comments. If only we got this excited about exercising, working, raising our kids, cleaning our rooms, volunteering, etc…

How much did rick scott's momma get paid to be on television and tell the blatant lie, " Rick's a good boy, he'll get Florida back to work". The Republican Creed: Swear to the lie. Love the liar. Scorn the truth.

"Verify" the voter rolls? I'd like someone to show me proof of at least one non-citizen that was allowed to vote in the past, in any state in the last 236 years. The verification process is completed when a US citizen applies for a voter registration card at the county of residence. The State wants to prevent the poor and minorities from voting as most of them would vote for democrats running for office. The GOP, to which I belong, needs to find other legal ways to win elections. The money the state is going to spend fighting the feds can be used to improve our education system which is lagging behind most of the other states in the Union.

Here it is LM, just for you!

OK1996 Election - California
One of the most extensively documented cases of illegal voting was in California in 1996. Loretta Sanchez, a Democrat, defeated Republican incumbent Robert Dornan by 984 votes. Dornan called for an investigation of alleged illegal voting by noncitizens. According to Congressional Quarterly, a Washington, DC newspaper that focuses on developments in Congress, "Task force Chairman [U.S. Representative] Vernon J. Ehlers, R-Mich., said investigators had found concrete evidence of 748 illegal votes by noncitizens, not enough to throw Sanchez's victory into doubt."

Of course there are many more instances but you request just one.

The first point is that we must ask what is the objective and verifiable PERCENTAGE of so-called fraudulent voting in each state, and particularly in Florida?

Second, while I would agree that voter validity checks should be periodically and regularly done, it should not be done later than six months before any federal or state general election.

It is far too convenient a voter suppression tactic when it is done at this time.

Of course, if all you want to do is to win an election, and you don't care about suppressing liberty, or trampling the rights of Americans, then I suppose that Scott is doing the best job to insure that his party wins, regardless of his apparent contempt for the US Constitution.

I'm a lifelong Republican, but i care more about the rights of the people than the victory of my party.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3hY1eagq88&feature=g-vrec

Gov. Scott asked for the info from Dept of Homeland Security nearly a year ago to clean the rolls. The info was not released because of foot dragging at the federal level with time running short is no reason to excoriate the governor. What are the motivations of the Attorney General Holder for the stalling tactics? In 2008 AG Holder refused to investigate charges of alleged voter fraud in CT. Irregularities in the absentee ballot process involving ACORN were of no concern to him then. Why should things be any different in 2012?

Dad od Three!=
You sir are an A$$ Hul..... You have no conception of what was meant by the statements. I'll refresh your stupid sht filled head. Your going to get screwed by this administration, as much as you're a repuican I suppose you don't know that both parties do dirty tricks, whether at the polls or counting votes. I can tell yocan't respond properly so I took it upon myself to return that same response. Don't bother with apologies, I already know who and what you are!