FLORIDA: Facts first, views later

Stephen Bruno’s comment in Friday’s letters to the editor, claiming that 180,000 Florida citizens received official letters saying, “that they are not eligible to vote,” needs to be refuted. The truth is that Florida made comparison between the voter-registration records and the driver’s license records, which seemed like a reasonable starting point. It revealed that up to 180,000 Florida voters were potentially not citizens.

After further investigation they then sent letters to 2,600 voters notifying them that the state had reason to believe they were not citizens. If the voters were citizens, they could contact their local elections supervisor and provide proof of their citizenship. If they were not, or did not respond to the letter, it was up to the local elections supervisor to decide whether the person should be left on the voter rolls for now or not.

Mr. Bruno also stated that “the people who are receiving this mailing are documented Americans.” How do you know unless the records are examined? The government has a legal duty under both state and federal law to ensure the voter rolls are current and accurate. Removing ineligible voters from the voter rolls is something that they do every year. The last thing anyone wants to do is remove an eligible United States citizen from the rolls.

I would like to suggest to all those from both political parties, examine the facts before your biases interfere with the truth.

GEORGE R. BORST

Coeur d’Alene