Rick Scott: I’m Not Dead Yet

June 15, 2012

Six years before he made national headlines, Gov. Rick Scott found himself being purged from voter rolls after local election officials thought he was dead.

Collier County election officials on Thursday confirmed that the governor was required to vote with a provisional ballot for the 2006 primary and general election after county officials mistook him for Richard E. Scott, who died in January 2006 and had the exact same birthday — 12/1/1952 — as Florida’s 45th governor.

Election officials said the governor was required to vote provisionally because local election officials had received a Social Security Death Index Death Record showing that Richard E. Scott died Jan. 27, 2006.

The governor, whose full name is Richard Lynn Scott, recounted his voting difficulties in radio interviews on Thursday as the state tangles with the federal government over just that – how likely is it that elections officials might make a mistake and purge the wrong person from the voter rolls?

An election official noted, however, that despite the initial mistake, both of the governor’s votes were counted.

“I’ve been here for more than seven years and it’s the first time I am aware of somebody who was removed for being deceased and it was a mistake,” said Tim Durham, Collier County deputy election supervisor. “It was the exact same name, Florida resident, identical date of birth.”

Scott mentioned his brief, encounter with the state’s provisional ballots during an interview with Preston Scott on WFLA Radio in Tallahassee Thursday morning.

“I had to vote provisionally because they said I’d passed away,” Scott said. “So I said, ‘I’m here, here’s my driver’s license, I’m really alive.’ And so they allowed me to vote provisionally. And then they went back and checked and said I was alive.”

Scott later repeated a version of the story in an interview with a Tampa station.

The revelation couldn’t have come at a more opportune time for Scott, who is battling with federal officials over the state’s effort to purge ineligible voters from Florida rolls.

Critics have said Scott’s efforts would disenfranchise some eligible voters mistakenly included in the list of those not allowed to cast ballots. But Durham said since Scott’s provisional votes were counted in 2006 – under a system set up following the 2000 recount to allow contested ballots to be cast and counted – it proves the system protects legitimate voters.

Scott spokesman Lane Wright said Thursday that the governor’s personal vignette bolsters his contention that the push to purge the voting rolls would not prevent eligible voters from casting ballots.

Florida’s provisional ballot process allows contested voters to cast ballots and requires local election officials to verify their status within 30 days.

“If there is any error, it is not going to prevent someone from voting,” Wright said Thursday.

Over the past several weeks, Scott has been at the center of the storm as state and federal agencies battle over a Scott-backed attempt to purge ineligible voters from the rolls. The Florida Secretary of State and the U.S. Department of Justice have traded lawsuits over the issue.

“The system is set up so that people can vote,” Wright said.

By The News Service of Florida

Comments

7 Responses to “Rick Scott: I’m Not Dead Yet”

  1. David Huie Green on June 17th, 2012 12:56 am

    REGARDING:
    “If it is Constitutionally illegal for the governor of a state to purge the voter rolls, then it is illegal. Period.”

    True, but not necessarily relevant. The Constitution doesn’t forbid purging of ineligible voters from voting rolls. Laws written under the authority of the Fifteenth Amendment might make it illegal in certain circumstances, but there is no law which says everybody who was ever on the voter’s rolls must be there for eternity.

    For that matter, the power of Congress under the Fifteenth Amendment is limited:

    Amendment XV
    Section 1.
    The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

    Section 2.
    The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

    So Congress only has power to enforce it based on race, color or previous condition of servitude. Further, they only have the power to protect the right of citizens of the United States to vote. They are not empowered to protect the voting rights of non citizens under #15.

    Therefore, if the supervisors of elections of the various counties (also not the Governor) decide to remove someone from the rolls because they discover they are not US citizens, Congress is not ceded the power to prevent them.

    Further, as this article points out, people who maintain they ARE citizens can cast provisional ballots no matter what and if they are proven to be as they claim, their vote is counted even if their name is not on the proper list.

    David thinking the governor wins this round

  2. Betty on June 16th, 2012 12:32 pm

    I wish he could be purged from his governor job…he is the worst governor I have ever seen in our state..

  3. Henry Coe on June 16th, 2012 7:14 am

    If it is Constitutionally illegal for the governor of a state to purge the voter rolls, then it is illegal. Period. The out come of such a purge, whether good or bad, doesn’t have anything to do with whether it is legal or not, except to someone who might get purged and then decide to sue the state.

  4. bob hudson on June 15th, 2012 11:04 am

    There is nothing wrong with what the are trying to do. It needs to be corrected. We sure do not wish to have another ACORN event. But it seems that those who are against this do not wish to talk about what happened with ACORN and their voter fraud charges.You would think the A.G.Eric Holder would care about avoiding another problem like that. But no, he is fighting this tooth and nail.Odd is it not?

  5. David Huie Green on June 15th, 2012 9:26 am

    Lynn??

    His mother named him Richard Lynn Scott??

    not a good name like Huie?

    Anyhoo, they probably tried to purge his name because he was a Democrat.
    He wasn’t a Democrat?
    You mean they actually were just trying to keep accurate records?

    David thinking it was a natural mistake

  6. Bob on June 15th, 2012 8:47 am

    Rick Scott will be remembered in years to come as one of Floridas greatest Governors.

  7. Kathy on June 15th, 2012 6:21 am

    He should be purged from government.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News