Two Miami-Dade County women and a coalition of five groups filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday to try to block Florida’s controversial effort to remove ineligible voters from the election rolls.
The lawsuit, filed in Miami, argues in part that the purge discriminates against minority voters.
“The alleged non-citizen voter purge program is not uniform, has been discriminatory against minority voters, namely Hispanics and blacks, and has disproportionately impacted lawful, eligible minority voters,” the lawsuit says.
One of the plaintiffs, Karla Vanessa Arcia, is a Nicaraguan-American who is a U.S. citizen.
The lawsuit says Arcia’s name appeared on a purge list, and she faces the possibility of being removed from the voter-registration system because she did not respond to a notice sent by the Miami-Dade County supervisor of elections.
The other individual plaintiff, Melande Antoine, is a Haitian-American who did respond but contends she should have never been on the purge list because she is a U.S. citizen.
The lawsuit is the latest round in a fight about purging ineligible voters that has drawn national attention.
Gov. Rick Scott and other supporters say they are trying to make sure only eligible voters cast ballots, but critics — including the U.S. Department of Justice — argue that Florida is violating federal election laws.
The groups named as plaintiffs in the new lawsuit are the Florida Immigrant Coalition, Florida New Majority, Inc., the National Congress for Puerto Rican Rights, 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East and Veyeyo, a Miami-Dade civic organization.
