Federal judge refuses to stop Florida voter purge

A voter arrives at a polling station on primary day on January 31, 2012, in Tampa, Florida. / Getty Images

(CBS/AP) TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - A federal judge has refused to stop Florida from removing potentially non-U.S. citizens from its voter rolls.

The U.S. Department of Justice sued the state to halt the purge, arguing it was going on too close to a federal election.

U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle said Wednesday that there was nothing in federal voting laws that prevent the state from identifying non-U.S. citizens even if it comes less than 90 days before the Aug. 14 election.

Hinkle ruled that federal laws are designed to block states from removing eligible voters close to an election. He said they are not designed to stop states from blocking voters who should have never been allowed to cast ballots in the first place.

Florida Governor Rick Scott

/ Getty Images

Gov. Rick Scott praised Hinkle's decision, saying "irreparable harm will result if non-citizens are allowed to vote."

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Florida identified an initial list of 2,600 potential non-citizens based on a cross-search of data from the Florida Department of Elections and the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. Voters were to be notified by letter that they had been identified as potentially ineligible to vote, and had thirty days upon receipt of the letter to provide documentation of their citizenship or face removal from the polls.

But the database relies on some outdated driver's license information, and a number of the people on the list of possible non-citizens have since proven their citizenship, according to the state's election department. Opponents of the purge argue that the efforts disproportionately targeted Latinos and Democrats.

Despite the public sparring between the DOJ and Florida officials, most county election officials had already opted not to continue with the process, which they are able to do given the guidelines of the state process. At least one county, however, said it was proceeding with the identification and purge of non-citizens.

[someguy76]

I sent this letter requesting information from the Democratic committee in Florida:

<<I am a registered Florida voter, and I am concerned about this action. On what grounds do you think this voter purge should be halted? As a registered voter and Florida resident, I do not understand why ANYONE would want to allow non-citizens, felons and the deceased to vote. This appears to be an attempt to legalize the corruption of our voting process. In my opinion this is treason, and I don't understand why those proposing a halt to this process are not in Federal prison. I must be missing something here, perhaps you can enlighten me? I could be persuaded to change my opinion, but it would take some seriously compelling arguments. Until that happens I will gladly use my LEGAL voting power to take those responsible for this atrocity out of office. I am offended by those who want my voting power to be diluted by those who should not even have the right to cast a ballot in the first place. >>

I have as of yet to receive an educated response to my query. If the Democratic Committee refuses to clarify their stance on the issue, it further solidifies my opinion regarding the crooked individuals behind this campaign.

This is truly atrocious, I am proud of my country, and I am proud that we allow immigrants to become citizens and have the power to vote, but this is a disgusting attempt by the Democratic party to neutralize their opposition with underhanded and illegal tactics. I will continue vote for the candidate that best upholds the Constitution regardless of party, but I will NEVER vote for someone who supports this action.

[hyhybt]

A question, for those who (rightly) say that ineligible people ought not be allowed to vote:

In a system where there *will* be errors (in other words, any system devised and run by humans) on which side should the margin of error lie, and by how much? In other words, how many *eligible* voters is it acceptable to deny their right to vote for each *ineligible* person who is validly removed, and vice versa?

[reality_sanity]

The judge's decision paves the way for Florida Elections officials to purge 3 of 514 names currently validated IF IT CAN BE PROVEN THEY ARE NON-CITIZENS. What the Judge's decision does not specify is the penalty for Florida officials for the purge of 500 of the 511 that were substantiated as VALID US CITIEN VOTERS. Then take into account the magnitude of the issue when the full list is 182,000 names meaning over 175,000 statistically could and probably are VALID US CITIZEN VOTERS.

[Nocults]

The Governor of Florida, who paid the largest fine for Medicare fraud ever recorded ($1.7 BILLION) as CEO of Columbia/HCA, just loves squandering taxpayer money on useless causes.

[reality_sanity]

The judge ruled that removing non-citizens was not illegal. == based on analysis of 514 names of the 182,000 removing 500 valid voters to eliminate 11 non-voters and 3 POSSIBLE non-citizen voters; the Judge did not specify the validity of removing 500 LEGAL VOTERS statistically about 350 times by the State of Florida (that is around 175,000 LEGAL VOTERS the State of Florida proposes to wrongfully remove in order to eliminate about 1,050 possible non-citizen voters).

[reality_sanity]

The other approx 3,850 registered voters to be removed NEVER VOTED in any election.

[alinrodneyvil]

This ruling is wrong on so many levels. I hope the Justice Department will appeal this ruling since it is so blatant a disregard of the law. Is this Judge a Republican?

[marychgo]

God, I hate repeating myself (from previous threads), but here we go again:

The Bush administration spent years and millions of dollars seeking evidence of voter registration fraud and/or voter fraud. (You may remember seeing Hans von Spakovsky, who ran the operation within the Department of Justice, on TV chat shows.) This initiative got more media exposure that it expected when the Bush administration fired eight or ten U.S. Attorneys because they wouldn't prosecute voter registration/voter fraud cases for which the DoJ operation provided too little evidence to get a conviction. But the result of all that time and taxpayer money was about a dozen prosecutions (and I'm not even sure how many convictions).

Has there BEEN voter registration fraud and voter fraud in the U.S. in the past? Yes. Is such fraud limited to Democrats? No, where fraud has been proven, both parties have participated. Is there serious evidence of either of these crimes in the recent past? No.

[johngalt_as]

It's amazing that some Dems don't understand the concept of preventing invalid voters from voting. Duh!

[Dontbeslow]

That's exactly the problem...they do. But, as long as it's worked in their favor, it's OK.
Truth, facts, the well being of America, morality & justice ALL take a back seat to their narcissistic mantra.
Character counts, Romney 2012!

[hyhybt]

The correct way to go about a purge is to verify that the person is in fact ineligible before removing their name. Instead, Florida is removing people wholesale on the faintest suspicion. You really don't see a difference?

[WHAT-IS-HE-SMOKING]

The part that really gets me is:
"But the database relies on some outdated driver's license information, and a number of the people on the list of possible non-citizens have since proven their citizenship, according to the state's election department."
The state can't guarantee that the people they are taking off the voter list should be. If they have the wrong address in their data file and the person never gets the letter telling them to prove they are legally allowed to vote what happens on Election Day? Are they not allowed to vote?

[starving1968-3]

In Minnesota, a voter was kicked off the rolls because his name on his driver's license was John Q Public, and on his voter registration card it was John Q. Public.

Another was kicked off because his address on his driver's license was 123 Main St, and on the voter registration sign in log at the polling place, it was 123 Main Street.

Really? Kicked off because a period was missing from your middle initial? Kicked off because the word "street" was abbreviated on one and spelled out completely on another?!? Was it a coincidence that they "just so happened" to be registered democrats?!?

[AOCGUY]

In Florida when a descrepancy occurs such as you have mentioned the individual is allowed to vote a provisional ballot. Actually, such minor deviations would be ignored and the individual would be allowed to vote normally, but major descrepancies would require a provisional ballot.

[starving1968-3]

And was it also a coincidence that these critical and democracy threatening errors weren't "identified' until LESS than 60 days before the elections, so that the people DID NOT have time to correct them?

Why weren't these problems "found" say in January, February, or March?

[betterusa]

I am amazed regarding replies that believe the judge was wrong or the 90 day period should be upheld to allow NON-CITIZENS to vote. Are you people for real? Are you people actual US Citizens? Is our Dept. of Justice corrupt (see Obama and Holder) to file suit against a state upholding a law? You slap the face of every person that ever fought or died for our freedoms and destroy the backbone of this great nation by wanting illegals and/or non citizens to have the same rights and freedoms of US citizens in the US.

[AOCGUY]

There is no evidence that any non- US citizen has voted or even attempted to vote here in Florida. Gov Scott has had plenty of time to clean up the voter registration lists but it wasn't a priority until now. Maybe that now that it is less than 60 days from the election, anyone purged does not now have enough time to correct the record and get placed back on the rolls.

[AOCGUY]

seabass it's called a provisional ballot and one can only cast a provisional ballot if one is on the rolls but information doesn't match with ID. If you are not on the rolls you don't get to vote - period. Now the Florida Primary is 47 days away, so if if someones name pops up this week, sometime next week a letter will go out to the last known address. Oops no mail next Wednesday, so maybe on Thusrday next week the letter may or may not make it to the last known address. Of course the individual moved to a new apartment in the same complex two weeks ago so he doesn't get the letter which is returned to the Supervisor of Elections the following Monday. By Wednesday the new address is found and on Friday it goes back out in the mail to be delivered on Tuesday the 17th of July now just 29 days before the election. Now our voter has to round up the appropriate documentation, request time off from work and travel to the Election Supervisor's office to file an appeal that will normally take 30 days. Did I say that he got the letter 29 days before the elction. Darn ithe luck - too late - no vote for him.

Now do you understand the 90 day requirement?