Judge orders Alabama to stop axing voters from active rolls until after election: report

A federal judge in Alabama ruled Tuesday night that the state must halt its effort to remove thousands of registered voters suspected by the Republican secretary of state's program of being noncitizens from voter rolls until after the November election.

U.S. District Judge Anna Manasco, an appointee of Donald Trump, ordered Alabama to stop moving voters flagged as part of Secretary of State Wes Allen’s program from active to “inactive” status, according to CNN. The program set up by Allen, who has made election integrity a priority, was announced as an effort to prevent illegal voting by noncitizens.

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“As part of this program, they were all reported to Alabama’s chief law enforcement authority for criminal investigation,” according to Manasco’s ruling and obtained by CNN, “as far as I know nothing has been done to undo that.”

Manasco added in her ruling Tuesday that she could not disregard the negative effect being flagged by the state would have on a potential voter, CNN reported. The ruling – just 21 days before Election Day – comes after Allen and the state of Alabama were sued by the Department of Justice and several civil rights and advocacy groups.

A hearing was planned for Wednesday morning, where the judge was expected to sign off on details of her order, according to CNN.