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A Federal Judge today said Florida can remove voters who registered illegally from the rolls anytime prior to an election. The U.S. Attorney had sought to stop the state within 90 days of an election, but as Mike Vasilinda tells us, the judge found legally registered voters would be harmed if illegals were allowed to cast a ballot.

In May, the state sent a list to local supervisors of elections. It contained the names of 26 hundred people the state believed were not US Citizens and who had registered to vote illegally.

But the list was flawed because it was based on state drivers license records. The Justice Department and others sued to stop the state from using the list, in part because federal law prohibits voter purges within 90 days of an election. In Federal court on Wednesday, the state had said it would not use the list, but would wait until it got access to a disputed Homeland Security databased. The judge ruled the 90 restraint did not apply.

What the judge said that if an illegal voter was allowed to cast a ballot, it would do irreparable harm and dilute the vote of a legally registered voter.

So now the state is free to remove voters registered illegally anytime before an election.

“They’re not pursing the old database, but they are trying to get an accurate database from the federal government,” Michael Carvin, lawyer for the state said.

The Governor’s spokesperson claimed victory, urging the federal government to make a more accurate homeland security database available soon.

“That’s what we need to move forward,” spokesperson Brian Burgess said. “The judge made it clear that that would be a much bigger improvement over what we’ve done in the past.”

The judge did promise speedy action if legal voters were purged from the rolls because of the state’s actions.

A lawyer for the state’s supervisors says his clients can not proceed to remove non-citizen voters who registered illegally, but they will need more proof than a disputed state database.