DOJ sues Alabama over voter removals

The U.S. Department of Justice said late last week it was suing Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen over a program removing voters from voter rolls.

“The right to vote is one of the most sacred rights in our democracy,” wrote Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division in a Friday news release. “As Election Day approaches, it is critical that Alabama redress voter confusion resulting from its list maintenance mailings sent in violation of federal law.”

The DOJ lawsuit follows a lawsuit filed on Sept. 13, which alleged that Allen’s move to remove non-citizens from the voter rolls breached several portions of the National Voter Registration Act, the Voting Rights Act and the 14th Amendment.

U.S. District Judge Anna Manasco Saturday wrote she would consolidate the two lawsuits, barring an objection from either side.

Allen said in a statement Monday that it was his “constitutional duty to ensure that only American citizens vote in our elections,” but declined further comment, citing the ongoing litigation.

The move affected about 3,200 voters, and the plaintiffs in the earlier lawsuit include naturalized citizens who were wrongfully removed. The DOJ filing said that 717 affected voters had been restored to active status as of Sept. 19.

A message was left with the Attorney General’s Office Monday morning.

DOJ attorneys wrote that the announced plan to remove noncitizens came 84 days before the election, which included both naturalized and native-born U.S. citizens.

That, they said, violated the “Quiet Period Provision” of the National Voter Registration Act, which requires states to complete systematic programs to remove names of ineligible voters from registration lists no later than 90 days before federal elections.

DOJ attorneys asked the court to enjoin the state from “future non-compliance with the section” and to ensure that voters impacted by the policy are restored to the rolls or can register again.

They also asked the court to direct the state to send a “remedial mailing” to voters who did not ask to be removed from the rolls telling them they have been restored to active status; can cast a regular ballot on election day; advising U.S. citizens that their inclusion doesn’t mean they are ineligible to vote or subject them to criminal prosecution and advising non U.S. citizens that they remain ineligible.

DOJ also wants the state to provide “prompt and clear” information to the public about the halting and reversing of the program and that impacted eligible voters can vote on Election Day, and “to take all reasonable and practicable efforts to educate county officials and poll workers concerning the cessation of the Program, the restoration of impacted voters to active status, and the ability of impacted voters to cast a regular ballot without submitting supplemental paperwork or documentation;” and ordering “additional relief as the interests of justice may require.”

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