For better or worse, the central principle behind the unlimited contributions to super PACs that will dominate this election cycle is simple: Money is speech, and we cannot limit speech. Yet many who hold this freedom as an article of faith are all too willing to limit an equally precious form of speech: voting.
If we don’t speak out against these abuses, we may soon learn the hard way the danger of that double standard. And a dozen years after the 2000 recount that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, my state of Florida threatens to be ground zero one more time.
As Florida’s attorney general from 2003 to 2007, I strongly enforced the laws against illegal voting. I did so out of respect for our democracy — voting is a precious right reserved for U.S. citizens — but I’m concerned that zealots overreacting to contrived threats of voter fraud by significantly narrowing the voting pool are doing so with disrespect and disregard for our greatest traditions.
As a result of insidious political maneuvers and a lack of respect for voters, the courts and the Justice Department have been required to step in this summer to protect the integrity of the voting process against a sweeping purge that the Florida Department of State undertook under the guise of removing non-U.S. citizens from the voter rolls. Among those caught up in this shameless purging was 91-year-old World War II veteran Bill Internicola, who fought in the Battle of the Bulge.
read more: Commentary: Florida in danger of purging democracy | www.palmbeachpost.com
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