TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Florida's top elections official is throwing allegations of law violations back at the federal government in a dispute over the state's efforts to purge non-citizen voters.
Secretary of State Ken Detzner accused the Department of Homeland Security of violating federal law by refusing to give state election officials access to its alien verification database.
Detzner also denied allegations by the Department of Justice that Florida's purge violates federal anti-discrimination and voter registration laws in a letter to the agency's voting section chief, T. Christian Herren.
His letter is in response to one Herren sent Detzner last week demanding a halt to the state's search for non-citizen voters. The legal adviser to Florida's 67 county supervisors of elections has recommended they stop the effort until the dispute is resolved.
(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
