Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s 2012 voter purge violated federal law, court rules

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Steve Bousquet, Tampa Bay Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Tuesday, April 1, 2014 7:48pm

TALLAHASSEE — Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s administration violated federal law by trying to remove noncitizens from the voter rolls too close to the 2012 presidential election, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday in calling the mistake-prone effort “far from perfect.”

The decision by a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta invalidated efforts by the Department of State to identify and remove noncitizens from the voter rolls in advance of an election in which a Florida victory was crucial to President Barack Obama’s re-election.

Federal law prohibits states from “systematic” removals of voters less than 90 days before a federal primary or general election.

Judges said they ruled in a case that might otherwise be moot to prevent Scott’s administration from undertaking a future purge effort.

“This is a big win for Florida voters and a significant victory for good election administration practices,” said Deirdre Macnab, president of the League of Women Voters of Florida, which joined the case on the plaintiffs’ side. “Systematic computer purges are often wrong so they shouldn’t come just before an election, when the voter can’t get it corrected. … This is a precedent-setting case that upholds a key protection for voters.”

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Supreme Court Strikes Down Aggregate Limits on Federal Campaign Contributions

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New York Times
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WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued a major campaign finance decision, striking down some limits on federal campaign contributions for the first time. The ruling, issued near the start of a campaign season, will change and most likely increase the already large role money plays in American politics.

The decision, by a 5-to-4 vote along ideological lines, with the Court’s more conservative justices in the majority, was a sequel of sorts to Citizens United, the 2010 decision that struck down limits on independent campaign spending by corporations and unions. But that ruling did nothing to affect the other main form of campaign finance regulation: caps on direct contributions to candidates and political parties.

Wednesday’s decision in McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission, No. 12-536, addressed that second kind of regulation.

It did not affect familiar base limits on contributions from individuals to candidates, currently $2,600 per candidate in primary and general elections. But it said that overall limits of $48,600 by individuals every two years for contributions to all federal candidates violated the First Amendment, as did separate aggregate limits on contributions to political party committees, currently $74,600.

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