Florida election chief says DHS ‘not cooperative’ on noncitizen voter roll cases: ‘Radio silent’

SUMMARY

Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd has accused the Biden administration of being uncooperative in efforts to remove noncitizens from voter rolls ahead of the 2024 election. Byrd highlighted issues with the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) SAVE database, which is used to check citizenship status, citing that it’s outdated and costly to use. Florida, along with other Republican-led states, relies on this tool, but Byrd claims DHS has failed to provide updated lists of naturalized citizens, making the process inefficient. Despite this, Florida continues to flag dozens of potential noncitizens weekly for further investigation. Byrd stressed the importance of accurate voter rolls to maintain election integrity, while Republicans push for proof of citizenship for voter registration. However, Democrats argue that noncitizen voting is exceedingly rare and that such measures could lead to disenfranchisement. Byrd concluded, “They’ve gone radio silent... They don’t help us,”