The Justice Department sued Alabama on Friday over the state’s recent effort to delete more than 3,000 names from its voter lists, claiming the move violated federal law that prohibits such action too close to an election.
Alabama GOP Secretary of State Wes Allen announced on August 13 that he had begun the process of removing 3,251 people previously identified as noncitizens from the state’s voter rolls, despite acknowledging that some of those people may have since become naturalized citizens and are now eligible to vote.
However, in an 18-page lawsuit filed in federal court in Alabama, the Justice Department claimed that the so-called voter roll purge violated the National Voter Registration Act, which controls how and when most states can make large-scale modifications to their lists of registered voters. The federal statute mandates states to follow a 90-day quiet period during which authorities may not “systematically remove the names of ineligible voters from the official lists of eligible voters.”
“While more than 700 individuals impacted by the Program have since re-registered and returned to active status in the State’s voter registration records, potentially several hundred or even thousands more registered, eligible voters from the list – U.S. citizens – remain in inactive status, stand to be harmed, and risk disenfranchisement just weeks before the upcoming federal election,” the lawsuit’s attorneys wrote.
“The State’s unlawful actions here have confused and deterred U.S. citizens who are fully eligible to vote – the very scenario that Congress tried to prevent when it enacted the Quiet Period Provision,” the complaint stated. It went on to say that Alabama’s activities “are more error-prone than other forms of list maintenance.”
As CNN previously documented, thorough research from both liberal and conservative think tanks has uncovered only a few instances of noncitizens voting in elections in which they are ineligible. Nonpartisan election law experts claim it is almost always detected when it occurs, and it is not a prevalent issue in US elections.
The new complaint broadens the legal fight against Alabama’s measures, which were challenged earlier this month by state voters, including those affected by the purge. The judge presiding over the two cases announced on Saturday that she had combined them “in light of the obvious time-sensitive nature of these lawsuits and the need for judicial efficiency.”
Among other things, the Justice Department is requesting that the court overturn the state’s actions for all eligible voters affected by the purge so that they can “vote unimpeded on Election Day.”
“As Election Day approaches, Alabama must address voter confusion caused by list maintenance mailings sent in violation of federal law,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke said in a statement. “The Justice Department will continue to use all the tools it has available to ensure that the voting rights of every eligible voter are protected.”
Allen declined to comment on the complaint but said in a statement that it was his “duty” to prevent noncitizens from voting in US elections.
“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 told the crowd. “As to the question regarding the Department of Justice’s lawsuit, this office does not comment on pending litigation where the Secretary of State is a named defendant.”
