A federal judge Wednesday granted a preliminary injunction to prevent the State of Alabama from following through on a program to remove more than 3,000 voters from the state’s voter rolls.
U.S District Judge Anna Manasco wrote in her ruling Wednesday that Secretary of State Wes Allen “blew the deadline” in attempting to carry out the program within the 90-day quiet period before the general election.
“For decades, federal law has given states a hard deadline to complete systematic purges of ineligible persons from voter rolls: no later than ninety days before a federal election,” Manasco wrote. “This year, Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen (1) blew the deadline when he announced a purge program to begin eighty-four days before the 2024 General Election, (2) later admitted that his purge list included thousands of United States citizens (in addition to far fewer noncitizens, who are ineligible to vote), and (3) in any event, referred everyone on the purge list to the Alabama Attorney General for criminal investigation.”
Manasco heard from both sides for over four hours on Tuesday regarding the program and whether a preliminary injunction would be appropriate.
Michelle Cohen, policy director and senior counsel for plaintiff Fair Election Center said the hearing revealed “wild inaccuracies” with the state’s program.
“We heard that the state had to reverse course on over 1,000 people who should never have been on the state’s list, and yet they didn’t communicate to those people that the original letter they got from election officials was wrong,” Cohen said. “We also heard that the state did little to nothing to identify and fix errors in the process until they were flagged in the lawsuit. Nor did they correct the record for people they referred for prosecution. This has been understandably confusing and intimidating for voters, and did not provide the information that naturalized citizens need in order to understand their rights. The evidence in court—which showed over a 60 percent error rate in the state’s list—underscores the importance of the National Voter Registration Act to protect voters from last-minute threats to their voting rights. This is a win for voters and for all Alabamians who value a fair and free election.”
The program identified more than 3,000 voters that at some point had been issued noncitizen identification numbers. Allen advised boards of registrars to remove the individuals and even forwarded their information to the attorney general for potential prosecution.
Allen acknowledged with the announcement of the program that the list of purged voters could include people who have become naturalized and have lawfully registered to vote.
The program faced two lawsuits—this one from individual voters and voting rights groups, and another from the U.S. Department of Justice.
“We are pleased with the court’s swift action to protect Alabama voters from an unlawful purge and ensure they can fully participate in the upcoming elections,” said Kathy Jones, president of the plaintiff League of Women Voters of Alabama. “This ruling strengthens our democracy by safeguarding access to the ballot for all eligible voters including naturalized citizens who were unfairly targeted and removed from the rolls.”
The preliminary injunction prevents the program from being undertaken until after the election, with the case to continue at that point.
“This action sends a clear message that the Justice Department will work to ensure that the rights of eligible voters are protected,” wrote Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The National Voter Registration Act’s 90 day Quiet Period Provision is an important safeguard to prevent erroneous eleventh-hour efforts that stand to disenfranchise eligible voters.”
The ruling will require the secretary of state’s office to within three days contact boards of registrars to activate any inactivated voters under the program. The order also requires Allen to send informational material to the targeted voters to ensure they are informed of their right to vote.
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