Letters to the editor

Re: “The freedom to vote is at stake”

I read with interest Rollins Assistant Professor Julia Maskivker’s letter, “The freedom to vote is at stake (published Aug. 2).” I’m sure that as a teacher of political science, Dr. Maskivker has formed her opinions about voter fraud by studying all the facts available.

I have heard arguments similar to Dr. Maskivker’s, but have never been satisfied with such claims as, (1) voter fraud in America is virtually non-existent or (2) requiring photo IDs disenfranchises eligible voters, particularly minorities.

As a registered voter with proper ID, I too am concerned with being disenfranchised. Even the smallest infraction could offset my valid vote with one that is fraudulently cast. We in Florida are aware how close elections can be. A Winter Park mayoral race was won by a single vote. The 2000 presidential election was so close it had to be resolved by the Supreme Court.

I Googled voter fraud and found numerous incidents happening today nationwide. In Mississippi, an NAACP executive was sentenced to prison on 10 counts of illegally using absentee ballots. In Washington, D.C., an investigative reporter for Project Veritas videotaped his encounter at the polls where he asked for and received Eric Holder’s ballot without showing his ID, which he claimed he had left in his car. The reporter left before voting and sent the tape to a stunned House Judiciary Committee.

On the issue of hardship for minorities requiring photo IDs, blogger Demetrius Minor, a member of Project 21’s Black Leadership Network, wrote:

“There is an implied notion here that individuals, specifically minorities, are not smart enough to figure out how to obtain proper identification. Liberals are notoriously known for claiming to be the champions for minority rights and equality, while invoking that the federal government must be the spokesperson for [minorities] because they are simply incapable of thinking on their own. What exactly is preventing young people and minorities from filling out forms needed to acquire a photo ID? All Americans should reject this rhetoric. It is a common class warfare antic used by the Left to… attempt to paint voter ID activists and advocates as racially motivated….”

I would like to ask Dr. Maskivker what her students think about the issue. I hope that as a professor of the “science” of politics, she would give them the facts and let them form their own conclusions. Freedom of thought is a fundamental of the liberal arts education.

— Kathryn Grammer

Winter Park

Florida and fair elections: failure is not an option

Florida is on the frontlines of the national election, and the Florida Interstate 4 corridor is a big part of that story. One of the newest stories to emerge this year is the announcement by Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner about intentions to continue the systematic purging of voters from Florida’s voter rolls, despite the proximity of the Aug. 14 primary and Nov. 6 general elections.

Are Florida’s purges within 90 days of a federal election endangering eligible voters? The League of Women Voters says, emphatically, yes. Recent headlines highlighting eligible voters who have received warning letters from the state requiring them to prove their citizenship in order to stay on the rolls show that the state’s actions have put eligible citizens’ democratic rights at risk.

The most recent admission by Detzner that the lists most recently provided to Florida’s supervisors of elections were based on “obsolete” and “outdated” information is part of a pattern in Florida that has had the impact of unlawfully disenfranchising, in some cases, thousands of eligible voters.

Less than 30 days before the primary election, the League asked Detzner and Gov. Rick Scott to safeguard the voting process by taking the following steps:

1) Make a public commitment to conduct list maintenance transparently, accurately and far enough in advance of an election to ensure that eligible voters are not wrongly removed without time to correct errors.

2) Ensure that only accurate information is used to conduct list maintenance, rather than relying on questionable data matching.

3) Comply with the federal Voting Rights Act to ensure non-discrimination, as well as the National Voter Registration Act to ensure accuracy and fair treatment of eligible voters.

The League has doubts about the accuracy and reliability of the federal data match that the state is planning to undertake, and we are calling on Florida’s leaders to ensure that eligible voters are not removed erroneously from the rolls.

The League believes that accurate, up-to-date voter lists are critical. We salute the work that Florida’s 67 supervisors of elections do every day, as they and their staff carefully and deliberately maintain a voter database of more than 11 million Florida citizens.

Purges based on inaccurate information are unacceptable and put Florida’s eligible voters, like the World War II veterans and small business owners we have all read about, at risk. Hasty and rushed efforts to purge voters have been shown this year — and in previous elections — to endanger the status of everyday eligible Floridians.

The League asks: Is your registration up to date? Avoid problems and get informed. Visit BeReadyToVote.org

—Deirdre Macnab

State president

League of Women Voters of Florida