corrente

You know, the one that just happened to disenfranchise Democrats, but left Republicans with the right to vote? Due to a "technical error"? The one that Republican election commissioner Glenda "The Bad Witch"] Hood spent $100,000 in taxpayer dollars trying to keep secret? The one that was only exposed after a court order? That's the one!

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush ignored advice to throw out a flawed felon voter list before it went out to county election offices despite warnings from state officials, according to a published report Saturday.

In a May 4 e-mail obtained by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Florida Department of Law Enforcement computer expert Jeff Long told his boss that a Department of State computer expert had told him "that yesterday they recommended to the Gov that they 'pull the plug'" on the voter database.

The e-mail said state election officials "weren't comfortable with the felon matching program they've got," but added, "The Gov rejected their suggestion to pull the plug, so they're 'going live' with it this weekend."

Long, who was responsible for giving elections officials his department's felon database, confirmed the contents of the e-mail Friday to the Herald-Tribune. He said he didn't remember the specifics, but that Paul Craft, the Department of State's top computer expert, had told him about the meeting with Bush.

A software program matched data on felons with voter registration rolls to create the list of 48,000 names. Secretary of State Glenda Hood junked the database in July after acknowledging that 2,500 ex-felons on the list had had their voting rights restored.

Most were Democrats, and many were black. Hispanics, who often vote Republican in Florida, were almost entirely absent from the list due to a technical error.
(via AP)

Oh, I just have to repeat—"technical error." Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha! That's too rich! "Technical error"! Stop it, you're killing me! Oh, it hurts me to laugh, but I can't help it! Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!

But hey! None of this matters! According to Judge Posner, who is obviously angling for one of the seats on the Supreme Court that will be in Inerrant Boy's gift, there's no Constitutional right to vote, back. So, that's all settled. No worries.

UPDATE Here's a nasty little detail from the original Herald Tribune story that the mighty AP did not deign to include:

So far, the only review of the purge list project is being conducted by [Republican election commissioner Glenda "The Bad Witch"] Hood's inspector general.

That investigation has been going on for more than three months with no published findings. Under state public records law, records generated from such investigations become public after 60 days.

But Department of State officials have not turned over any documents from the investigation despite repeated requests from the Herald-Tribune.

"The Florida Department of State is processing the Sarasota Herald-Tribune's requests -- plural," Faraj said. "We'll get them to you as soon as we're at that point."

Faraj told the Herald-Tribune last week that Kirby Mole, Hood's inspector general, had not finished his review. She said she had no idea whether it would be completed before the November election.
(via Sarasota Herald Tribune)

Well, well. A Bush records secret in defiance of the law? Sound familiar?