( CNN ) -- It would n't be an election year without Florida exhibiting its usual despicable efforts to keep residents from voting . After the 2000 debacle where the nation had to contend with hanging chads , ballots not being counted , more lawyering than anyone ever needs to deal with , and finally a U.S. Supreme Court ruling , you would think officials there would do all they can to stay out of the news . But , no . Leave it to the state legislature and Gov . Rick Scott to create another mess that could have easily been avoided . This time , it 's the purging of the state 's voting rolls in an effort to keep U.S. noncitizens from voting . According to Scott , potentially 182,000 voters on the rolls are noncitizens . Now there is nothing wrong with any state ensuring that those who are eligible to vote are American citizens . But when it comes to Florida , they did n't even take the necessary precautions to ensure that folks who are legal citizens would n't be a part of their purge process . The big question is , why now ? Why would Florida , with a statewide vote coming up in 90 days , choose now of all times to do this ? That 's a question the Department of Justice is asking . T. Christian Herren , chief lawyer in the DOJ 's voting rights division , wrote a two-page letter to Florida officials asking why they chose to make this move without consulting the feds , an apparent violation of the Voting Rights Act . Civil rights groups are naturally outraged because in 2000 Florida purged thousands from its rolls . Most of them were minority , and a substantial number were law-abiding residents who never should have been stricken . In Miami-Dade County , officials sent 1,500 letters to voters saying they were potentially noncitizens , and nearly one-third of them provided proof that they were indeed Americans . What kind of failure rate is that to be proud of ? This action follows the draconian voter suppression law -- supporters call it voter protection -- that was passed by the Florida legislature , which was so ridiculous and punitive that the nonpartisan League of Women Voters and Rock the Vote ! chose not to register voters out of fear of amassing substantial fines . A federal judge has ordered Florida to stop enforcing several provisions of that law . It is shameful that Republicans in Florida are concerned with blocking Americans from the ballots out of some ridiculous fear of noncitizens voting . And they should be embarrassed by their actions , which include questioning the citizenship of 91-year-old Bill Internicola , a World War II veteran . Internicola was a medic during the war and earned the Bronze Star in the Battle of the Bulge . He was also bestowed with the Chevalier Legion of Honour by France . But because of Florida 's voter purge plan , he got a letter saying he had 30 days to prove he was an American or he would be stricken from the voter rolls . Internicola fought for democracy overseas , only to have partisan hacks question his legitimacy . Scott should have the decency to call Internicola and offer him a personal apology for the insulting letter . The Department of Justice should be aggressive in demanding that Florida , and any other state , is n't taking action that is detrimental to Americans exercising their right to vote . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Roland Martin .
Florida is purging of its voting rolls in an effort to keep U.S. noncitizens from voting . Martin : Gov . Rick Scott created another mess that could have been avoided . According to Scott , potentially 182,000 voters on the rolls are noncitizens . Justice Department weighs in , asks why change comes 90 days before election .