Alabama barred from implementing voter purge program before election

(CN) — A federal judge in Alabama will not allow the state to purge more than 3,200 names from the voter rolls fewer than 90 days before the November general election.

U.S. District Judge Anna Manasco, an appointee of President Donald Trump, issued an injunction Wednesday against the state after two days of hearings in which the secretary of state’s office acknowledged most of those purged have since become naturalized American citizens.

But Secretary of State Wes Allen nonetheless sought to purge the names from state voter rolls because the individuals had previously obtained noncitizen identification numbers from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. As part of the attempted purge, Allen also referred all 3,251 names to the Alabama Office of Attorney General for criminal investigation and potential prosecution.

Allen announced the purge on Aug. 13, just 84 days before the general election. In the injunction, Manasco also noted Allen “blew the deadline” of the 90-day provision of the National Voter Registration Act. On Aug. 19, the Campaign Legal Center sent a letter to Allen advising the purge “implements an untimely systematic voter list maintenance program targeting naturalized citizens in violation of federal law, including the NVRA.”

On Sept. 13, the Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice, the Alabama State Conference of the NAACP and the League of Women Voters of Alabama sued Allen. The plaintiffs claim the purge program “undermines the fundamental right to vote” and was designed by Allen to specifically target naturalized citizens.

“Every naturalized citizen was once issued a noncitizen identification number, prior to becoming a citizen,” the complaint states. “That is because all naturalized citizens were once legal permanent residents, and all legal permanent residents are issued noncitizen identification numbers. But no U.S.-born citizens are issued noncitizen identification numbers at any point in their lives. Thus, Secretary Allen created a purge program designed to target naturalized citizens for removal from the voter rolls.”

In an order issuing the injunction, Manasco noted that in testimony earlier this week, the secretary of state’s office “admitted that his purge list included thousands of United States citizens (in addition to far fewer noncitizens, who are ineligible to vote).”

The injunction applies solely to the purge program and does not prohibit Allen from removing other names from the voter rolls due to death, a request of the voter, felony criminal convictions or non-citizenship.

Allen was also ordered to issue guidance to all county registrars “to immediately restore to active status the voter registration records of registrants inactivated as part of the program” and to notify those affected that their voting rights have been restored.

Finally, Allen must write a letter to Attorney General Steve Marshall noting “that a number of Alabamians were inaccurately referred” for investigation.

The injunction expires the day after the election.

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