The head of the Florida Republican Party acknowledged Thursday that his state's controversial purge of the voter rolls is relying on flawed data.
"There are certainly some issues with the data," GOP chair Lenny Curry told MSNBC's Thomas Roberts Thursday. "But we can fix this."
The purge, which was ordered by the state's Republican governor, Rick Scott, is being conducted based on DMV records. Its stated goal is to remove non-citizens from the rolls, but it has already ensnared several U.S. citizens.
Bill Internicola, a decorated 91-year-old World War Two vet, received a letter saying he was ineligible to vote, and is required to present identification papers to be reinstated. Voting rights advocates say that thousands of other legitimate voters stand to be similarly removed from the rolls, and may not go through the laborious process of getting reinstated.
"Based on the initial results, there are potentially 35-40,000 Floridians, eligible voters, who will be tossed from the voter rolls," Rep. Ted Deutch, a Florida Democrat, told Roberts, adding: "This is the most brazen attempt that I've ever seen to suppress the participation in our democracy."
On Wednesday, Curry released a statement comparing the purge to efforts to combat drunk driving by stopping drivers.