Oct. 16 (UPI) — A federal judge on Wednesday ordered Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen to pause his voter purge program, seeking the removal of thousands of naturalized citizens from the state’s active voter rolls, siding with the Department of Justice and civil rights organizations who argued the move was illegal.
The preliminary injunction — issued by former President Donald Trump-appointee District Judge Anna Manasco — orders Allen to pause his program, reactivate the voter status of voters purged and notify those who submitted a voter removal request because of the program.
“This action sends a clear message that the Justice Department will work to ensure that the rights of eligible voters are protected,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a statement.
Allen’s voter purge program, announced Aug. 13, sought to remove 3,251 registered Alabama voters who had previously been issued noncitizen indication numbers by the Department of Homeland Security.
The state’s Republican secretary of state directed all 67 counties to immediately inactivate and begin steps to remove those identified from voter rolls. He also provided the list of voters to Attorney General Steven Marshall for investigation and possible criminal prosecution, while stating further reviews would be conducted.
Four pro-voting civil rights organizations, along with three naturalized citizens, sued the state a month later, arguing the purge removed many naturalized citizens who once held noncitizen identification numbers before gaining citizenship.
The Justice Department then filed a lawsuit of its own, stating the purge program was in violation of a law known as the Quiet Period Provision, which requires states to complete the removal of ineligible voters from voter registration lists by no later than 90 days before federal elections. Allen’s program began 84 days prior to the Nov. 5 general election.
In her order Wednesday, Manasco wrote that the program violated the 90-day provision while highlighting that Allen admitted his purge list included thousands of U.S citizens “in addition to far fewer noncitizens, who are ineligible to vote” all while referring everyone on the list for potential criminal investigation.
Jess Unger, senior staff attorney at the Southern Poverty Law Center, which was among the groups that filed the lawsuit, described the decision as “a victory for Alabama voters.”
“It affirms the freedom of voters to participate in the electoral process and the importance of the National Voter Registration Act’s ‘quiet period’ protection for eligible voters,” Unger said in a statement.
The Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice, one of the civil rights organizations involved in the lawsuit, celebrated the decision in a statement as a “victory against the wave of voter suppression across the country.”
UPI has asked Allen’s office for comment.
