Dead People Counted: ACRU Targets Florida for Illegitimate Voter Rolls

The American Civil Rights Union (ACRU) has filed a federal appeal in Bellito v. Snipes, seeking to overturn the March 29 trial court ruling from its lawsuit alleging that election officials in Broward County, Florida have failed to maintain accurate voter registration rolls, violating federal election law.

The ACRU is seeking an order declaring that Dr. Brenda Snipes, the supervisor of elections of Broward County, Florida, failed to conduct a reasonable, consistent and accurate general program of voter list maintenance in Broward County, in direct violation of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA). Under Section 8 of the NVRA, local officials are legally required to conduct a general program that makes reasonable efforts to remove the names of ineligible voters—including those who have moved and those who have died.

In 2016, the number of registered voters in Broward County exceeded 100 percent of the number of voting-age citizens in the entire county—based on data from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission and the U.S. Census Bureau. Witnesses testified to thousands of dead people remaining on the voter rolls and over 1,200 illegitimate voters being registered at improper addresses. Serious evidence was presented that Snipes violated her obligation as the local elections supervisor.

“Dr. Snipes failed to utilize the many tools for list maintenance provided by the state of Florida and the U.S. government. This failure poses unacceptable risks to the electoral process and violates federal law, and should prompt an investigation into similar cases throughout the country,” said Ken Klukowski, general counsel for the American Civil Rights Union.

“We must guarantee that each and every eligible citizen is encouraged to exercise their right to vote and ensure that his or her votes are not cancelled by other people’s illegal votes. Broward County’s failure to obey federal election law risks violating the rights of all eligible voters by including those ineligible voters.” {eoa}

ACRU is dedicated to protecting the civil rights of all Americans by publicly advancing a constitutional understanding of our essential rights and freedoms. ACRU’s Voting Integrity Institute provides education and training on critical voting and election issues to state legislators, secretaries of state and election integrity advocates across the country.