Justice Department sues Alabama saying state is purging voter rolls too close to election
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit Friday against Alabama and its top elections official, accusing the state of illegally removing people from the voter rolls too close to the November election.
Federal officials said the purge violates the “quiet period provision” of the National Voter Registration Act, which prohibits the systematic removal of names from voter rolls 90 days before federal elections.
Republican Secretary of State Wes Allen announced an initiative in August “to remove noncitizens registered to vote in Alabama.” More than 3,000 people Those who have previously been assigned a non-citizen identification number will have their voter registration status made inactive and marked for possible removal from the voter rolls. The Justice Department said both native-born and naturalized U.S. citizens, who are eligible to vote, have received the letters stating that their voting status has been made inactive.
“The right to vote is one of the most sacred rights in our democracy,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, said in a statement. “As Election Day approaches, it is critical that Alabama resolves voter confusion resulting from list maintenance mailers sent in violation of federal law.”
The lawsuit asks for a preliminary injunction that would restore affected voters’ ability to vote on November 5.
“I was elected Secretary of State by the people of Alabama and it is my constitutional duty to ensure that only American citizens vote in our elections,” Allen said in a statement Friday evening. He said he could not comment on pending litigation.
Allen acknowledged in August the possibility that some of the identified people had become naturalized citizens since receiving their non-citizen numbers. He said they would have to update their information on a voter registration form and would be able to vote after it was verified.
The Campaign Legal Center, the Fair Elections Center and the Southern Poverty Law Center filed a lawsuit earlier this month that also challenged the voter roll purge. They said the state purge targets naturalized citizens who once had a non-citizen identification number before acquiring citizenship.
The plaintiffs in that lawsuit include two U.S. citizens who received letters saying they were moved to inactive voter registration status because of the purge. One is a Dutch-born man who became a US citizen in 2022. The other is a US-born citizen.