A federal judge rejected a request by the US Department of Justice to put a restraining order on Florida’s attempt to purge non-citizens from its voter rolls. The Department says federal law prohibits the removal of voters within 90 days of an election, but Judge Robert Hinkle said removing non-citizens is okay.
Hinkle said another reason he didn’t block Florida’s move is because the state has already voluntarily stopped the purge. Michael Carvin, is the attorney representing the state. He said officials are working to create a more accurate list of ineligible voters, using a federal immigration database, after questions arose about another list created with driver’s license information.
“They’re not pursuing the old database, but they’re trying to get the accurate database from the Federal government and presumably the federal government will give it to them soon," Carvin said
Judge Hinkle said the drivers license list, has too much room for errors, but with a more accurate list, the state can remove non-citizen voters. Hinkle said letting ineligible voters stay on the rolls does irreparable harm, but added that so does removing eligible voters.
