The department said the purge is being conducted too close to the Nov. 5 election and could disenfranchise eligible voters who recently became citizens.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed a lawsuit against the state of Alabama, accusing the state of breaking the law with its voter roll purge program that targets individuals who are—or once were—noncitizens.
The DOJ announced the legal action in a Sept. 27 statement, in which the agency contends that Alabama’s program, which targets individuals with noncitizen identification numbers, violates the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA) by removing potentially eligible voters within the federally mandated 90-day “quiet period” before an election.
Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division said that Alabama’s actions risk disenfranchising eligible voters just weeks before a key federal election.
“As Election Day approaches, it is critical that Alabama redress voter confusion resulting from its list maintenance mailings sent in violation of federal law,” Clarke said in a statement. “The Quiet Period Provision of federal law exists to prevent eligible voters from being removed from the rolls as a result of last-minute, error-prone efforts.”
The NVRA’s quiet period provision prohibits states from conducting systematic voter roll purges within 90 days of a federal election to prevent errors and ensure that eligible voters are not wrongfully removed.
The legal dispute centers around a program initiated by Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen that aimed to remove noncitizens registered to vote in Alabama from the state’s voter rolls.
Allen’s office announced on Aug. 13 that 3,251 individuals on the state’s voter rolls had been flagged for removal because they were issued noncitizen identification numbers by the Department of Homeland Security. Allen instructed the state’s 67 county boards of registrars to deactivate these voters and begin the process of removing them from the rolls.
“I have been clear that I will not tolerate the participation of noncitizens in our elections,” Allen said in a statement at the time.
Allen noted that while some of those identified may have since become naturalized citizens, these individuals would need to update their status using a state of Alabama voter registration form in order to remain eligible to vote.
Allen said that because of a lack of cooperation from the federal government in providing up-to-date lists of noncitizens for the purposes of the voter roll purge, Alabama had to rely on older data that do not reflect whether the individuals flagged for removal have since gained citizenship.
The DOJ’s lawsuit said Alabama’s program could disenfranchise eligible voters, particularly naturalized citizens who were once issued noncitizen identification numbers. The department’s review found that both native-born and naturalized U.S. citizens had received letters stating that their voter records had been made inactive and that they would be removed from the rolls unless they submitted a new registration form.
The DOJ is seeking an injunction to halt the voter roll purge and reinstate the rights of eligible voters. It’s also pushing for remedial mailings to inform voters about the restoration of their rights, along with training for local officials and poll workers to address any confusion or distrust among eligible voters wrongly flagged as being noncitizens.
The Alabama Secretary of State’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the most recent DOJ lawsuit.
In an earlier statement, Allen defended the program as necessary to maintain the integrity of Alabama’s elections, while vowing to continue efforts to ensure that only U.S. citizens are registered to vote.
“This is not a one-time review of our voter file. We will continue to conduct such reviews to do everything possible to make sure that everyone on our file is an eligible voter,” Allen said in a statement.
“I am hopeful that in the near future the federal government will change course and be helpful to states as we work to protect our elections.”
This is not the first legal challenge Alabama has faced over its voter roll maintenance efforts.
Earlier this month, a coalition of civil rights organizations, including the Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice and the League of Women Voters of Alabama, filed a separate lawsuit accusing the state of targeting naturalized citizens with the purge. This lawsuit claims that many of those flagged for removal are now U.S. citizens who are eligible to vote but are being forced to re-register.