Four Florida legislators urged their colleagues to protect voting rights that have been under threat in the state by passing legislation that is currently stalled. 
Joined by activists from Florida New Majority at a press conference in the Capitol Building on Tuesday, two state senators and two representatives asked their fellow legislators to pass two bills they labeled as critical to preserving voter access to the ballot: the Florida Voting Rights Act and the Florida Right to Vote Act.
Their comments come in the wake of a recent federal court ruling that the state’s paring of the voter rolls two years ago violated the National Voter Registration Act. That case arose after Gov. Rick Scott called for a review of voter rolls in what many say was a hunt for noncitizens. Initially, the Secretary of State’s office identified 180,000 suspect voters. The list was pared to 2,600 and then to 198. In the end, about 85 voters were purged from the registration list.
Several naturalized citizens found themselves on the purge list and sued. Under federal law, states are barred from “systematic” voter removals 90 days before a federal primary or general election. In this case, the effort came in the midst of President Obama’s campaign for a second term, when Florida was seen as crucial to his victory. A three-judge panel in the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that Scott’s efforts violated federal law.
Florida has gone through several efforts to scrub voter rolls in the last few years. This year, the Secretary of State’s office initiated another look for noncitizens on the voter rolls, but abandoned the effort in the wake of public pressure.
This year’s bills, sponsored by Democratic legislators, would require approval by the Florida Supreme Court before any efforts that would scrub protected classes from voter rolls, and would allow voters to file a legal claim if they are denied the right to vote.