By Larry Barszewski
The Sun-Sentinel
(July 26, 2017)

Broward County, Florida could have thousands of ineligible voters on its rolls, increasing the risk of voter fraud, because its election officials don’t do enough to keep the lists accurate, according to a national group that has challenged voter rolls across the country.

In a lawsuit, the , a conservative group started by a former official in President Ronald Reagan’s administration, contends that in recent years Broward’s voting lists have included more names than the number of voting-age people living in the county.

“Something very unusual is happening to create that situation,” said Scott Gessler, a former Colorado secretary of state who testified as an expert witness in a non-jury trial that began Tuesday before U.S. District Court Judge Beth Bloom in Miami.

The ACRU wants Bloom to order Broward Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes to be more proactive in cleaning up the voter lists. The suit could set a nationwide precedent for how aggressive elected officials have to be to ensure that non-citizens and people who move, die, become felons or are mentally incapacitated are purged from the rolls. The group’s efforts around the country have been criticized as a voter suppression effort that could snare eligible voters, too.

The suit is a “poorly devised solution to a problem that does simply not exist,” said Carrie Apfel, a Washington D.C. attorney for the SEIU United Healthcare Workers union, which has intervened in the case on behalf of Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes. The union is concerned that if the suit is successful, it could erroneously cost some of its members the right to vote, Apfel said.

According to Gessler, some things the county should be doing are:

* Comparing state driver’s license information with voter lists to catch more people who may have moved

* Checking whether non-citizens with driver’s licenses are on the voter rolls

* Using U.S. Postal Service electronic data to ensure voter addresses are accurate

* Obtaining jury recusal information to see whether people are getting out of jury duty for reasons that should keep them from voting, too.

Read more.