DOJ sues Alabama to block state’s attempt to remove noncitizens from voting rolls
The Justice Department filed a lawsuit against Alabama on Friday, claiming that the state’s efforts to remove non-citizens were made too close to the election in November.
The Department asked a federal court to order Alabama that the names of ineligible voter, as the state claims, be put back on active voter lists. The department stated that some citizens received notices stating they were moved to an inactive voter file.
Alabama announced its decision on August 13. This was 84 calendar days before the elections, and a violation of the federal National Voter Registration Act (also known as the motor-voter), which prohibits the deletion of names from the electoral lists within 90 days.
As Election Day nears, it’s critical that Alabama correct voter confusion caused by its list maintenance mailings which were sent in violation of federal laws,” Assistant Attorney-General Kristen Clarke stated.
She said that the lawsuit should serve as a warning for other states.
Wes Allen, the Alabama Secretary of state at the time, said that his office identified 3,251 people on Homeland Security’s lists who had been issued a number he called “noncitizen ID” by Homeland Security. His office instructed registrars that they should inactivate these names and “initiate measures” to remove any non-citizens.
Mr. Allen claimed Homeland Security had refused to work with him.
He said that it was “possible”, some of those to whom the federal government had issued numbers had achieved citizenship later, and the process he initiated would allow them verify their citizenship status.
Ms. Clarke stated that they determined that some people targeted were citizens born in the United States, which is contrary to the claim of the state that all the targets were given noncitizen ID numbers.
Mr. Allen refused to comment on Friday about the lawsuit, but defended his gist.
In a press release, he stated that “I was elected Secretary of State by the people in Alabama and it is my Constitutional Duty to ensure only American citizens are allowed to vote in our elections.”
