Yes, folks, those are the two legal ways. Every other way, including the above, the Florida 'Your name is like an ex-cons', 'Your name came up in a foreclosure proceeding', and so forth, are illegal.DETROIT -- A federal judge on Monday ordered Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land to restore to the voter rolls the names of more than 1,500 Michigan voters he says were illegally purged.
The American Civil Liberties Union hailed the ruling by U.S. District Judge Stephen J. Murphy as "a victory for Michigan voters and the integrity of our democratic process."
Kelly Chesney, a spokeswoman for Land, said complying with Murphy's order before the Nov. 4 election will be "very labor-intensive," and the ruling could result in Michigan's qualified voter file being clogged with bogus names and addresses.
In a 43-page opinion, Murphy ruled that Michigan's Secretary of State violates federal law through two methods it uses to purge names from its list of qualified voters.
Murphy ordered election officials to immediately halt and attempt to rectify one of the two practices -- canceling voter registrations for those whose voter identification card is returned as undeliverable.
He ordered the state to remove the "rejected" marking in the qualified voter file for all people whose original voter ID cards have been returned as undeliverable since Jan. 1, 2006. About 1,500 people have been removed from the voter list in that manner this year, according to evidence presented in the case.
Murphy said a second Michigan practice -- immediately canceling the voter registration of those who apply for a driver's license in another state -- also violates the National Voting Rights Act.
Murphy did not grant the ACLU and the United States Student Association an immediate injunction against that practice, though he said the practice should be changed as the lawsuit proceeds.
Federal law allows voters' names to be removed from the rolls under only two circumstances, Murphy said in the opinion. One is if a voter confirms in writing an address change that disqualifies him from voting. The other is if a voter fails to respond to a request for an address update and does not vote in the next two federal elections.
Shocking.