Counties that did their best to vet the file discovered a high level of errors, with as many as 15 percent of names incorrectly identified as felons.
Madison County's elections supervisor, Linda Howell, had a peculiarly personal reason for distrusting the central voter file: She had received a letter saying that since she had committed a felony, she would not be allowed to vote.
Florida is the only state in the nation to contract the first stage of removal of voting rights to a private company.
In December 2000, we reported that Florida's use of a faulty and politically questionable list of felons and dead people "scrubbed" from voter rolls -- half of them African-Americans -- may have cost Al Gore the 537-vote margin of victory claimed by George W. Bush in Florida.
The voter-fraud law required all 67 counties to purge duplicate registrations and deceased voters from voter registries, in addition to removing felons, many of whom, but not all, are barred from voting in Florida.
According to the list, Cooper is listed as a felon convicted on Jan. 30, 2007.
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