Voter Purges in Florida and Colorado Find Almost ‘No Confirmed Noncitizens’

[UCmeNdc]

GOP efforts to purge the voter rolls in Florida and Colorado have so far come up with almost no noncitzens, NPR reports. The two states fought to gain access to an immigration database compiled by the Department of Homeland Security to compare against their voter rolls. Armed with this federal database, Florida claims the purge has identified “several” noncitizens out of 2,600 names, while Colorado admits they have “no confirmed

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/09/07/812871/voter-purges-in-florida-and-colorado-find-almost-no-confirmed-noncitizens/

[Cirque du So-What]

1. That should be sufficient to put that particular RW talking point to rest

but don't count on it.

[Igel]

3. Why?

There's a testable hypothesis that doesn't seem unreasonable.

There's a reasonable candidate set, constructed in as reasonable a method as we're likely to run across. There's a method for testing the candidate that seems only a little questionable, but unlikely to be improved upon in the near future. It's not so questionable that we can't make reasonable estimates as to error.

Unless I'm overlooking some error in the assumption or set up, running the experiment should serve to disconfirm one of the two competing hypotheses on the matter.

The only problem is that nobody'll let the experiment be run. Not out of human subject safety concerns. Just because, as far as I can tell. This same experiment's been set up a number of times before, and every time it's not run. Yet the conclusion is the same: The lack of confirmation because the experiment wasn't run is taken to entail the falseness of the hypothesis. Why, it's like saying that if you make the hypothesis that the Fukushima reactor emitted great gobs of radiation but you refuse to allow a radiation test to be run that the hypothesis is necessarily false and no radiation was ever emitted. Both sound equally silly to my ears.

That it's not unreasonable a hypothesis is a claim based on a couple of observations. I've seen motor vehicles folk try to register self-identified illegal immigrants who said "no." All it would take is a moment of weakness to say "yes," and the motivation to actually have a voice to vote. Of course, there's no immigrant movement asking for a greater voice. All immigrants prefer to be voiceless, I guess.

The second observation is that DUers have successfully used the same method that voter-registration purges in Florida, PA, and other states have used to ID possible illegal voters, and then gone through to trouble to showthat the potential voters so identified actually signed the poll book in their former jurisdictions (if they cast the vote, this would constitute a crime). Had the states used the DU-approved method, they'd have avoided the temptation unethical voters experienced.

[Scuba]

2. No one could have predicted that.

sarcasm thingy here

[SoapBox]

4. Time to bring in the United Nations Observers...

I saw this comment on the NPR article.

Sheesh, it seems that we are getting to that point...but now to ensure the voting rights OF all Americans, from
the vote fraud and shenanigans played by the GOPathetic Party.

[otohara]

5. Gessler in CO

what a douchebag this guy has been relentless in his search for Dems to scrub...now he says he's going to launch the largest register to vote campaign. I got in the mail the other day, two registration forms from Ralph Reeds - Faith and Freedom foundation. I wonder if he's in cahoots with Gessler.

I was shocked to get the Ralph Reed junk mail piece. I live in one of the most liberal districts in Denver.

[Jennicut]

6. As Jon Stewart already said...

"Sacrificing twenty percent of new voter participation is nothing compared to the horrors of voter fraud, which, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, happens at a terrifying rate of 0.0004 percent."

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/national-affairs/daily-show-voter-fraud-statistics-are-limited-only-as-much-as-your-imagination-20120613#ixzz2654BgQt2

[Blue Idaho]

7. Republican Disaster in the Making

This issue more than any other may really damage the republican brand. Overzealous politically motived republicans have waged a war on voters that will be remembered for stopping grandmothers and war veterans from exercising their right to vote.

People will not forgive them for this.

[Doctor Jack]

8. Perhaps the next step is to change the definition of what a "citizen" actually is

Perhaps non-citizens can be anyone that isn't a wealthy white male over the age of 55?