After a year-long dispute with the federal government, the state of Florida has won access to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security citizenship database. This allows the state to move forward with plans to purge potential non-citizens from voter rolls.
Voting rights groups argue purging names so close to an election might not leave much time to correct mistakes. However, Florida Department of State spokesman Chris Cate says they will still try despite Florida’s primary election being just one month away.
"It’s possible we may be able to remove some ineligible voters in time for the August Primary. But a bulk of the work will be done in the upcoming months, which will be much more beneficial to the general election in November and subsequent elections after that," he said.
The state’s initial purge included people who were actually citizens. But state officials contend gaining access to the federal SAVE (Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements Program) database is the most accurate way to verify the status of potential non-citizens.