Tampa Paper to Gov. Scott: You're Like George Wallace

The Tampa Bay Times today calls on Florida Gov. Rick Scott to stop the state's controversial purge of voters, but the editorial is most notable for what accompanies it: a 1963 photo of Gov. George Wallace trying to stop blacks from enrolling at the University of Alabama. It asks Scott to take note of the photo and draws a parallel: "It was wrong then to deny those students their right to a public education, and it is wrong now to use an inaccurate database that could deprive US citizens of their right to vote."

Like Wallace, Scott is using the defense of "states' rights" to defy the federal government, which already has called on the state to stop the purge. It is taking too many legitimate voters off the rolls and hitting minorities disproportionately, says the newspaper. The approach is "fatally flawed," and Scott's refusal to stop it "puts at risk the image of this state, the rights of its citizens, and your own reputation." Read the editorial in full here.