The Justice Department is suing the state of Alabama and Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen, R, over voter rolls. The DOJ argues Alabama’s effort to remove more than 3,000 names from voter rolls violates federal law because it’s occurring within 90 days of the Nov. 5 general election.
Allen announced on Aug. 13 that the state would purge noncitizens from voter rolls. That announcement was made 84 days before Election Day, falling short of the 90-day threshold mandated by federal law.
The lawsuit alleges that Alabama’s program targets individuals previously issued noncitizen identification numbers by the Department of Homeland Security.
Some citizens, both natural-born and naturalized, reportedly received notifications indicating their status had been changed to inactive, raising questions about the accuracy of the state’s voter registration system.
The Justice Department contends that Allen’s actions violated the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, which prohibits systematic voter roll changes within 90 days of a federal election, known as the “quiet period.”
The quiet period provision is designed to prevent errors and ensure eligible voters are not wrongfully removed from registration lists in the critical lead-up to an election.
Allen issued a statement the night of Friday, Sept. 27, saying, “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.”
The lawsuit seeks an injunction to reinstate the voting rights of eligible voters affected by the situation, allowing them to cast their ballots on Nov. 5.
