TAMPA (FOX 13) -
The U.S. Justice Department is suing Florida over the state's voter purge, saying it was done too close to August's primary.
The lawsuit Tuesday comes just a day after the state sued the U.S. Department of Homeland Security over the purge.
Florida is demanding that Homeland Security allow the state to check the names of its registered voters against an immigration database to help weed out non-citizens.
The Justice Department suit alleges Florida's search for non-citizen voters, initiated at the request of Republican Gov. Rick Scott, violates a "quiet period" required by federal law during the 90 days before an election. Florida's primary is Aug. 14.
The suit also contends Florida has been using inaccurate and unreliable voter verification procedures, which also violates federal law.
Supervisors of Elections across Florida are reporting errors in the lists of suspected illegal voters put together by the state.
Concerns over the lists have led two elections supervisors here in the Bay area to suspend the purge.
The state gave the Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections a list of 72 names in the county to investigate.
Eight of those contacted responded.
"We found that seven of those were in fact citizens, and one was not," Lennard explained.
It's enough to give Lennard pause.
"We feel as though the information we've received at this point is not reliable enough for us to move forward," he said.
Pasco County Elections Supervisor Brian Corley has suspended the purge in his county. He doesn't just question the reliability of the information. He thinks Scott's timing is questionable, and says the state has had its list of names since last year.
"This really would've been better handled in 2011 and not so close to an election," Corley. "The timing of this does not lead to instilling confidence in the process and that's where as Supervisor of Elections, that gives me grave, grave concern."
The state told the Pasco County Supervisor of Elections office to look into 13 people. Corley says two proved their citizenship, and two appear to be illegal. Nine have so far not responded.
Corley says some of the nine letters bounced back in the mail, and they've not been able to locate the individuals.
