Alabama Voter Purge Program Halted
A federal judge ordered Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen (R) to temporarily pause a voter purge program that targeted naturalized citizens and moved their voter registrations from active to inactive status. Voters who were sent purge letters will have their voter registration restored and be able to vote this November.
Trump-appointed Judge Anna Manasco ordered Allen to stop the program through Nov. 5, restore the active status of voters whose registrations were nullified, and notify anyone who submitted a voter removal request as a result of the program that they can re-register if they are eligible.
There have been 25 voter purge lawsuits filed this cycle, making it a trending topic in election litigation.
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Allen was also ordered to notify Alabama Attorney General Marshall (R) of anyone who was mistakenly referred for criminal investigation. Manasco declined to rule on whether the program was discriminatory.
Pro-voting organizations and naturalized citizens filed a lawsuit on Sept. 13 challenging Alabama’s “noncitizen” voter purge program. The program, launched Aug. 13, directed county registrars to place anyone who has ever had a noncitizen identification number on the inactive voter list and to begin the process of removing them from the voter rolls. Allen also referred everyone on the list of registered voters with noncitizen identification numbers—what the plaintiffs call a “purge list”—to Marshall for criminal investigation.
Because the sole criteria for the purge program is having had a noncitizen identification number at any point, plaintiffs argue that the program unfairly targets naturalized citizens. Even Allen conceded that naturalized citizens would be on the purge list and provided those voters a process to re-register. Because the program creates additional burdens for naturalized citizens that U.S.-born citizens do not have to face, plaintiffs argue that it violates the Voting Rights Act and National Voter Registration Act (NVRA). Additionally, they allege the program violates the NVRA’s 90-day quiet period during which voters cannot be systematically kicked off the rolls.
At the Oct. 15 hearing, Manasco said the program clearly violated the quiet period.
The plaintiffs asked the court to order Allen to halt the program, rescind the purge letters that were sent and restore the voting rights of everyone who was sent a letter, except those that provided evidence of their noncitizen status. They also asked the court to order Marshall to stop any criminal investigations based on the purge list.
On Sept. 27, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a separate lawsuit against Alabama challenging the same program for violating the NVRA’s 90-day quiet period. The two cases were later consolidated.
Learn more about the case here.
This post was updated Oct. 16 to reflect Judge Manasco’s written order.