The Department of Justice tried to prevent Florida and its Governor, Rick Scott, from removing non-citizens from its voter rolls, asking for a restraining order and arguing that removing non-citizens would be a violation of the National Voter Registration Act. Today, a U.S. District Judge appointed by former President Bill Clinton denied the Department of Justice’s request, according to the Miami Herald. Florida will now be able to rightfully remove non-citizens from its voter rolls.
Scott said in a statement that “the court made a common-sense decision consistent with what I’ve been saying all along: that irreparable harm will result if non-citizens are allowed to vote.”
“Today’s ruling puts the burden on the federal government to provide Florida with access to the Department of Homeland Security’s citizenship database,” Scott said. “We know from just a small sample that an alarming number of non-citizens are on the voter rolls and many of them have illegally voted in past elections.”
Last year, Florida requested access to the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database the state could use to identify non-citizens who are registered to vote in the state, but the federal government has yet to grant Florida access to the database.
“The federal government has the power to prevent such irreparable harm from continuing, and Florida once again implores them to grant access to the SAVE database,” Scott said.
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