Author name: moderat ereport

“The rule of law must be upheld,” the lawsuit states. By Mitch Perry for The Florida Phoenix The five Democratic state lawmakers who were denied entrance to inspect the new immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades last week filed a lawsuit in the Florida Supreme Court against Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida Department of Emergency (FDEM) Management Executive Director Kevin Guthrie on Thursday. They contend that their exclusion from the facility violated state law as well as the Florida Constitution by eroding the separation of powers and improperly restricting the authority of a co-equal branch of government. Related | Trump and cronies are giddy to trample human rights at ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ State Sens. Shevrin Jones and Carlos Guillermo Smith and state Reps. Michele Rayner, Anna Eskamani, and Angie Nixon are the plaintiffs in the case. The five Democratic lawmakers attempted to enter the facility on July 3, but were denied entrance for what officials there claimed were “safety concerns” that the Democratic lawmakers say were never identified to them. Their attempt to visit the facility came two days after President Donald Trump, Gov. DeSantis, and several other state Republican officials held a tour and roundtable discussion at the center with members of the media. Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, Kristi Noem, and others tour “Alligator Alcatraz,” on July 1. Officials with FDEM said earlier this week that state statute grants inspection authority only to legislative committees, “not to individual legislators engaging in political theater.” They also said that while Florida Statute 944.23 does authorize members of the Legislature to visit state correctional institutions, they have to be those under the jurisdiction of the Florida Department of Corrections. “The Alligator Alcatraz facility is not under the jurisdiction of the Department of Corrections and does not otherwise fall within the statutory definition of a ‘state correctional institution,’” said FDEM spokesperson Stephanie Hartman, referring to the appellation given the facility by state leaders. During the roundtable discussion on July 1 when the facility was opened to the media, Gov. DeSantis described the detention center as a “one-stop shop” with a runway that will allow the federal government to carry out deportation flights. The governor used a state of emergency declaration he issued in January 2023 to take over and begin the speedy construction on the land Miami-Dade County owns. Related | Trump says he wants other states to build migrant detention centers after Florida tour The five Democrats allege in their lawsuit that under Florida Statutes 944.23 and 951.225, members of the Legislature are explicitly entitled to conduct unannounced visits to any state or local detention facility at their “pleasure.” They also contend that DeSantis and Guthrie undermined the State Emergency Management Act under which the governor derives his emergency powers. They are seeking a writ to compel DeSantis and Guthrie “to provide immediate, unannounced access to the Petitioners to the Dade-Collier Training & Transition Airport site of the proclaimed ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ detention facility.” The department announced on Wednesday that it will open the center for all state lawmakers and members of Congress this Saturday for a 90-minute visit. Reports of poor conditions The filing of the lawsuit followed news reports of poor conditions at the 3,000 person-capacity tent and trailer detention center. Multiple detainees told the Miami Herald and CBS News that they had gone days without showering, the toilets didn’t flush, and temperatures fluctuated between extremes. “The rule of law must be upheld,” the lawsuit states. “Our Constitution does not coronate a king. It is not hyperbolic to contend that the Governor’s actions, directly or indirectly through the actions of agency directors and their employees, could become more far reaching into the third branch of our government. Conjecture is not necessary at this moment because the distinctive and autonomous power of the legislative branch has and is being challenged by and through the executive branch. The blatant, illegal, and cavalier nature of violation of the Florida Constitution and statutory authority puts members of the legislative and judicial branches at risk if we, those sworn to protect and defend the Constitution and rule of law, do not speak out loudly and boldly against its trespasses and transgressors.” Related | Stephen Miller whines to Fox News over criticism of twisted migrant camp The lawsuit was filed by two Democratic members of the Florida House, attorneys Ashley Gantt and LaVon Bracy Davis. Along with Rep. Rayner, the three female Democratic lawmakers announced last month that they were forming their own law firm called BDGR P.A. Two environmental groups, Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity, have already gone to federal court to sue the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), FDEM, and Miami-Dade County alleging construction of the detention center violates a federal law that requires environmental analysis of potential harms and that the public did not get an opportunity to comment. The governor’s office responded late this afternoon to the filing of the lawsuit. Yesterday, the Florida Division of Emergency Management invited all Florida legislators to tour Alligator Alcatraz this weekend. Today, five Democrat legislators responded by filing a frivolous lawsuit demanding access to Alligator Alcatraz,” said Sierra Dean, deputy press secretary for Gov. DeSantis. “The State is looking forward to quickly dispensing with this dumb lawsuit.”

Two letters went out. One was a mistake. The other one explains how to ensure you can keep voting in state and local elections. By Jen Fifield for Votebeat Maricopa County voters who recently received letters from the Recorder’s Office about their registration status may be confused by the two separate mailings, including one that’s incorrect. But no matter what, they will need to act soon to make sure they are able to continue to vote in state and local elections. The Recorder’s Office sent the first letter in error to 83,000 voters, telling them the office had gotten notice they had moved out of state and they would be removed from the active voter rolls if they didn’t act. Flummoxed voters began receiving those mailings on June 26. The office then sent out the mailing that the voters were supposed to get, with an added explanation in bold at the top explaining that the initial mailing was a mistake. This letter told voters about how they would need to provide documentation proving their U.S. citizenship, because of a separate error that affected 200,000 voters statewide. Voters wait to cast their ballots in Arizona’s presidential primary election in Gilbert, Arizona, in March 2016. In Maricopa County these voters will have 90 days to respond with a birth certificate, passport or other document. If they do not, they will be classified as federal-only voters, and permitted to vote only in presidential and congressional races. The letters prompted widespread confusion among recipients and demands for an explanation. After the incorrect letter went out, average wait times at the county’s call center jumped from just seconds to 10 minutes or more for three days, and peaked at more than 40 minutes, according to data Votebeat obtained through public records requests. The Recorder’s Office did not make a public statement about the incorrect letters for more than a day after voters began to receive them, which meant public officials and residents searching for information from the office could not find any. Votebeat first reported the incorrect mailing on June 26, and many voters said that story provided the only information they were able to obtain. Many voters later told Votebeat that they believed the letter was a sign of something nefarious. “My wife and I both got one and thought someone had used info of ours from a data leak to take out fraudulent IDs,” said Shane Watson, of Phoenix. Kristopher Bliznick of Phoenix said he “thought it was some sort of voter suppression.” “I thought they were trying to passively push people off the voter rolls,” he said. Why some longtime Arizona voters are being asked to prove their citizenship The letters to voters are part of the effort underway in all Arizona counties to correct a state record-keeping error that was disclosed last summer. For 20 years, the state said, it had failed to collect documentary proof of U.S. citizenship for some voters when they first registered to vote or updated their registration after moving across county lines. About 200,000 voters, or roughly 5% of the state’s voter roll, were caught up in that error, including the 83,000 Maricopa County voters who received the letters from the Recorder’s Office. These voters are all longtime residents, and some have lived in Arizona and been registered to vote for decades. But because state law requires proof of citizenship to vote in state and local elections, these voters will now need to provide that proof to continue to vote a full ballot. Related | It’ll likely be harder to vote in this state, thanks to Trump’s election lies Federal law does not require documentary proof of citizenship. It requires voters to attest to their citizenship under penalty of perjury. Arizona voters who do not provide citizenship proof can still vote in federal elections, because they have already attested to their citizenship when registering to vote. What Maricopa County voters should do if they receive the letters In Maricopa County, the second letter — which is dated June 27 at the top — explains how affected voters can resolve the problem. The voters can use the return envelope provided to send back their name, address, and a copy of a document proving their citizenship, such as a birth certificate or passport. The voters can also send the documentation by email to voterinfo@maricopa.gov, or bring the documentation to the Recorder’s Office at 301 W. Jefferson Street in Phoenix. Voters in other counties who have received similar letters should contact their recorder’s office to learn how to fix the problem. The Secretary of State’s Office initially provided a way for voters to check online whether they were on the list of affected voters, but isn’t doing that anymore. Voters who have questions about their record can contact their county recorder’s office. Why incorrect letters went out Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap and his staff at first blamed Complete Print Shop, a vendor the office hired to send the letters, for the incorrect mailing. The office said in its first statement that the vendor “has taken full responsibility for the mistake.” But emails first reported by 12 News on June 30 showed an employee of the Recorder’s Office had approved a proof of the incorrect letter. And in an email sent a few days after the error was uncovered, a Complete Print Shop employee told a county staff member looking into the issue that “the proof using the wrong template was sent and approved by the recorder office.” Nonetheless, the emails showed that Complete Print Shop said the mailing of the incorrect letter constituted a mistake on its part, and confirmed that it would mail a corrected letter at its own expense. After those emails were publicly released, Heap put out a second statement confirming that his office had erroneously approved the proof of the incorrect letter. Complete Print Shop did not respond to phone calls and emails requesting comment. Longtime voters outside of Maricopa County are also being asked to prove citizenship The 83,000 Maricopa County voters who received the