Marc Caputo

While the national liberal media, particularly MSNBC, have been eager to portray Florida's efforts to remove noncitizens from its voter rolls as a "purge" that is really motivated by partisan attempts at "voter suppression," the Miami Herald reporter who's been covering the story as it develops seems to see it quite differently than his colleagues.

In his June 12 story, Marc Caputo notes (emphases mine):

In a segment titled onscreen "What's the Matter with FL," MSNBC's Alex Wagner today continued her network's efforts to flog conservative Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) for his voter "purge." This despite the fact that the "purge" -- which targeted a mere 0.02 percent of registered voters in the state-- has not disenfranchised a single eligible voter and has in fact brought to light noncitizens who were illegally registered to vote. What's more, neither Wagner nor anyone else on her panel informed viewers that the Obama administration itself appears to be violating federal law by not helping Florida with its voter rolls cleanup effort.

To service her network's spin on the matter, Wagner turned to Rolling Stone magazine's Eric Bates and Ari Berman, the latter of whom insisted that the Sunshine State's efforts were part of a GOP effort to "depress the turnout" of Obama-friendly voting blocs.

Florida is a "state where a small number of ballots can swing a presidential race," MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell noted on her eponymous program this afternoon as she introduced Miami Herald's Marc Caputo to discuss Florida's attempt to "purge" its voter rolls of noncitizens.

But while Caputo noted that some 13 noncitizens -- who are of course ineligible to vote -- have been found and eliminated from the state's voter rolls thanks to the Sunshine State's efforts, Mitchell sought to present the inquiry as a waste of time because it's found so few noncitizens on the voter rolls thus far. [video update follows page break; MP3 audio here]