Justice Department sues Alabama for voter purge : NPR

The U.S. Department of Justice on Friday filed a lawsuit against the state of Alabama and its election official, alleging that the state’s program violates federal law by removing voters from election rolls as it approaches this fall’s general election. I woke you up.

States can remove a person’s name from their registered voter list if, for example, the person requests removal, dies, or is convicted of certain crimes in many jurisdictions. , National Voter Registration Act Most states establish a period known as a “quiet period” before federal elections.

Alabama and other states covered by federal law do not allow the systematic removal of names within 90 days of a federal election.

On August 13, 84 days before Election Day this fall, Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen (R) said: announced the initiative To “remove noncitizens who are registered to vote” in the state. According to a press release, Allen directed county election officials to remove from the voter rolls 3,251 Alabama registered voters who “have been issued non-citizen identification numbers by the Department of Homeland Security.”

Allen also acknowledged in a press release that “some individuals who have been issued non-citizen identification numbers have become naturalized citizens since receiving them and are therefore eligible to vote.” These U.S. citizens can update their voter registration information, the statement added.

but, statementthe Justice Department characterized the process as a “systematic voter removal program” that traps U.S. citizens, including both native-born and naturalized citizens, and puts them on the path to being removed from Alabama’s voter registration list. I attached it.

In August, NPR spoke to an Alabama-born voter who received notice from election officials that his registration had been flagged and that he was “on track to be removed from the statewide voter rolls.”

Allen declined to comment on the Justice Department’s lawsuit in an email statement Friday.

Alabama is facing similar lawsuit The lawsuit was filed this month by voting rights groups and citizens in Alabama represented by attorneys led by the Campaign Legal Center.

“I will not yield to threats from ultra-liberal activist groups seeking to keep non-citizens on Alabama’s voter rolls,” Allen wrote in an earlier email in response to letters from these groups.

Allen’s August effort comes as Republicans across the country seek new restrictions to prevent non-Americans from voting in U.S. elections. It is already against the law for noncitizens to vote in federal elections, and proven cases of noncitizens voting have become rare.

editor benjamin swayzey