Florida To Release Voter Purge List With 180,000 Names Of Possible Non-Citizens

With a little more than a month left before the Aug. 14 primary, Florida officials have determined the state will release a controversial voter purge list with the names of about 180,000 non-citizens because it is public record. It is uncertain when the list will be released.

The decision to release the names came after Secretary of State Ken Detzner agreed that the list is a public record. Detzner spoke with Attorney General Pam Bondi's office before making the call.

There were attempts made to remove the names of the citizens in question from the voting rolls.

But this time around, those who were suspected of being non-citizens won't be blocked from voting before the primary because the master list won't be sent to Florida's 67 county election supervisors, the Miami Herald reported. The supervisors have the authority to remove non-citizens from their rolls.

The set of 180,000 names is a public record, Chris Cate, a spokesman for Secretary of State Ken Detzner, wrote in an e-mail reported by CBSMiami. We are in the process of redacting it now so that it can be provided to everyone who has made a public records request.

The Department of Highway Safety and motor vehicles compiled the list last year from outdated information about people who had gotten driver licenses. Election officials were given hundreds of names in April. At least two lawsuits have been filed in response to the controversial list.

Election supervisors have since suspended the purge, stating many of the names either belong to citizens or others who cannot be reached.