Fort Lauderdale judge rules state can continue to purge noncitizen voters from rolls

A federal judge in Fort Lauderdale ruled Thursday that Florida’s purge of potential noncitizens on the voter rolls can go on.

U.S. District Judge William J. Zloch said federal law does not prohibit the state from removing voters who were never lawfully eligible to register in the first place. Florida has identified 198 voters as potential noncitizens — among an estimated 11.4 million registered voters — and sent the names to independent county elections supervisors for their review.

A coalition of liberal-leaning voting-rights groups had asked the court to halt the purge, arguing in a hearing Monday that federal law prohibits purging the voter rolls 90 days before an election.

Attorneys for Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner countered that the state could purge noncitizens at any time because they should have never been on the voter rolls.

“We’re very pleased another federal court has ruled that Florida’s efforts to remove noncitizens from the voter rolls are lawful and in the best interest of Florida voters,” Detzner said in a statement Thursday. “Ensuring ineligible voters can’t cast a ballot is a fundamental aspect of conducting fair elections.”

Zloch’s ruling follows one issued by a Tallahassee federal judge in June in a separate case filed by the U.S. Justice Department. That judge also opined that the 90-day purge prohibition in the 1993 National Voter Registration Act applies to people lawfully registered to vote, such as felons, and is silent as to noncitizens.

Zloch reached a similar conclusion. More here.

Comments

[Newman]

We have confirmed non-citizens on the rolls, and these Obama worshiping nut jobs want to keep them there. Can't wait for election day!

[whasup]

Well of course federal law doesn't ban taking illegal voters off the rolls. Otherwise, we could just let all the people in the world register to vote in our federal elections.

Oh, that's right ... that's exactly what some of the radical lefties would love.

[jsm2999]

How about our Zionist friends that hold dual citizenship and are lining up to stuff the ballot boxes for R & R

[vcobbs]

I wish they would name names and post pictures of the illegal scumbags.
Go Gov. Scott. Keep up the good work!
Romney/Ryan in November!!

[John N Florida]

198 possible is a far cry from the 225,000 the state first questioned.
Without these lawsuits, Scott would have been well on his way to a redo of 2000 when 40,000 voters were denied their Constitutional Right to vote.
Now, if we can just keep the FHP from staging false driver's check points this year, we just might get a valid election process.