The administration of Florida Gov. Rick Scott is vowing to continue a controversial purge of thousands of registered voters despite a Justice Department call for an immediate halt. The Justice Department warned last week the voter purge appeared to violate federal voting rights laws. But in a harshly worded letter on Wednesday, Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner defended the purge and said the federal government is illegally blocking Florida’s access to a citizenship database. Critics say 87 percent of suspected “non-citizens” targeted are people of color and say the purge is part of an effort to disenfranchise Democratic voters in a key election state.
