Gov. Rick Scott is more than a little miffed.
Nearly a month has passed, according to a statement from his office, since the U.S. Department of Homeland Security agreed to grant Florida access to the federal citizenship database (also known as the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements database, or SAVE). But Florida still cannot access the SAVE system.
That means with less than three months to go before the general election, the state remains unable to identify and remove noncitizens from the voting rolls.
The statement continues, "Given the Department of Homeland Security’s failure to execute an agreement over the last month, after agreeing to provide Florida access to SAVE, attorneys representing the state of Florida and its citizens are now preparing all appropriate legal options to ensure that an agreement is executed in a timely manner and prevent the irreparable harm that will result if noncitizens are not removed from the voting rolls."
In compliance with Florida’s open records law, Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner on Thursday released an obsolete list of potential noncitizens registered as voters that was generated months ago. Gov. Scott supported the decision to release the list. However, as the Department of State has said, the list should be considered obsolete, and will not be used as the basis for any action by the FDOS.
Scott is concerned the media will engage in the "irresponsible use of these names and other accompanying personal information for political and other purposes," according to the statement.