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By Yaël Ossowski | Florida Watchdog
Florida Gov. Rick Scott responds to questions about his voter reforms being blocked by the federal government during an interview Tuesday with Christine Romans, host of CNN's "Starting Point."
TAMPA— In the past two days, Gov. Rick Scott has been busy on the national airwaves defending his attempts to legitimize voter rolls in Florida.
This follows the U.S. Department of Justice‘s request that the state of Florida halt its verification of voters on county registration lists, outlined in a May 31 letter addressed to Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner.
In response to the letter, the Florida Department of State filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, charging that the agency refused to provide information on the citizenship of voters, hampering the effort to “legitimize elections” in the Sunshine State.
The suit was filed Monday in federal district court in Washington, D.C.
Just last month, the State Department reported that nearly 200,000 voters may not be citizens, a figure that renewed concerns about the integrity of the electoral process in the swing state carved by many as a battleground in the U.S. presidential race.
Appearing on CNN’s “Starting Point” on Tuesday morning, Scott defended the voter reforms being blocked by the federal government.
“Look, the debate is over. We know have almost 100 individuals who are registered to vote who are non-U.S. citizens. Over 50 of them have voted in our elections,” said Scott. “I have the obligation to enforce the laws of our land. You don’t get to vote in Florida if you’re a non-U.S. citizen.”
The state’s lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security was first announced Monday on “Your World with Neil Cavuto” on Fox Business.
Here’s the clip:
