Someone think of the voters

Florida election officals will take no legal action and leave the fate of 48,000 voters identified by the state as ineligible to the election supervisor in each county.

On Tuesday [Secretary of State Glenda] Hood put the burden solely on supervisors to research the background of voters before deciding whether enough evidence exists to purge them from the voter rolls.

''There has to be absolute proof; otherwise, they are not going to do anything but give the benefit of the doubt to the voter,'' Hood said.

Settled, right? Well, not entirely:

However, state officials continued on Tuesday to insist that anyone who registered to vote prior to having their civil rights restored should be purged from the voter rolls even though they are now eligible to vote. The Herald has identified more than 1,600 voters on the list who fall into that category.

Luckily, those 1,600 voters have someone on their side:

The [American Civil Liberties Union of Florida] contends that state officials have misinterpreted state law, and also may be in violation of federal voting laws.

''There is no legitimate purpose to be served by removing such a person from the records and then turn around and put him or her back on the records,'' said the letter sent by Randall Marshall, legal director for ACLU Florida, and Randall Berg, executive director for the Florida Justice Institute.

The letter says that Florida could be the target of a federal lawsuit if it continues to insist that those 1,600 voters must re-register.