{"id":2004,"date":"2024-10-15T13:17:10","date_gmt":"2024-10-15T18:17:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/voterpurgeproject.org\/?p=2004"},"modified":"2024-10-15T13:17:12","modified_gmt":"2024-10-15T18:17:12","slug":"justice-department-sues-alabama-claiming-it-purged-voters-too-close-to-the-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/voterpurgeproject.org\/index.php\/2024\/10\/15\/justice-department-sues-alabama-claiming-it-purged-voters-too-close-to-the-election\/","title":{"rendered":"Justice Department sues Alabama, claiming it purged voters too close to the election"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

UPDATED SEPTEMBER 27, 20246:33 PM ET\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hansi Lo Wang<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit<\/a> Friday against Alabama and its top election official, alleging a state program violated federal law by removing voters from its election rolls too close to this fall\u2019s general election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While states can remove a person\u2019s name from their lists of registered voters if, for example, the person asks to be taken off, has died or, in many places, been convicted of certain crimes, the National Voter Registration Act<\/a> sets what\u2019s known as a \u201cquiet period\u201d before federal elections for most states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alabama and other states covered by the federal law are not allowed to systematically remove names fewer than 90 days before a federal election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Aug. 13, 84 days before this fall\u2019s Election Day, Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen, a Republican, announced an effort<\/a> to \u201cremove noncitizens registered to vote\u201d in the state. According to a press release, Allen identified and instructed county election officials to remove from their voter rolls 3,251 registered Alabama voters who had been \u201cissued noncitizen identification numbers by the Department of Homeland Security.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Allen also acknowledged in the press release that \u201csome of the individuals who were issued noncitizen identification numbers have, since receiving them, become naturalized citizens and are, therefore, eligible to vote.\u201d Those U.S. citizens would be able to update their voter registration information, the statement added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in\u00a0a statement<\/a>, the Justice Department characterized this process as a \u201csystematic voter removal program\u201d that has ensnared U.S. citizens, both those born in the United States and those who were naturalized, and put them on a path to no longer appearing on Alabama\u2019s voter registration list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In August, NPR spoke with a voter<\/a> who was born in Alabama and received a notice from election officials that his registration had been flagged and he was \u201con the path for removal from the statewide voter list.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an email statement on Friday, Allen declined to comment on the Justice Department\u2019s lawsuit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alabama is facing a\u00a0similar lawsuit<\/a>\u00a0filed this month by voting rights groups and citizens in Alabama represented by attorneys led by the Campaign Legal Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an earlier email responding to a notice letter from those groups, Allen wrote: \u201cI will not bow down to threats from ultra-liberal activist groups who will stop at nothing in their quest to see noncitizens remain on Alabama\u2019s voter rolls.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The August effort from Allen comes as Republicans across the country call for new restrictions to ensure non-U.S. citizens aren\u2019t casting ballots in U.S. elections. It\u2019s already against the law for noncitizens to vote in federal elections, and proven instances of noncitizen voting are vanishingly rare<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UPDATED SEPTEMBER 27, 20246:33 PM ET\u00a0 Hansi Lo Wang The U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit Friday against Alabama and its top election official, alleging a state program violated federal law by removing voters from its election rolls too close to this fall\u2019s general election. While states can remove a person\u2019s name from their lists of registered […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2005,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5],"tags":[26],"yoast_head":"\nJustice Department sues Alabama, claiming it purged voters too close to the election : The Voter Purge Project<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Voter Purge Project protects eligible voters against disenfranchisement by monitoring, reporting on, and organizing against wrongful voter purging.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/voterpurgeproject.org\/index.php\/2024\/10\/15\/justice-department-sues-alabama-claiming-it-purged-voters-too-close-to-the-election\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta 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