Federal judge blocks Alabama’s election eve voter purge

A federal judge on Wednesday ordered Alabama officials to pause a controversial voter roll purge until after next month’s presidential election. 

U.S. District Judge Anna Manasco cited a law prohibiting states from removing people from their registered voter lists within 90 days of an election.

Manasco wrote in her preliminary injunction that GOP Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen violated the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) by launching a campaign purportedly targeting “noncitizens registered to vote.”

She said: “Allen blew the [NVRA] deadline when he announced a purge program to begin 84 days before the 2024 general election.” 

Manasco added that the secretary of state “later admitted that his purge list included thousands of United States citizens, and in any event, referred everyone on the purge list to the Alabama attorney general for criminal investigation.”

Manasco is an appointee of former President Donald Trump, the current 2024 Republican presidential nominee. 

Last month, the Justice Department, along with civil and voting rights groups, sued Allen and the state of Alabama over the policy’s timing.

Allen’s program removed more than 3,000 people from Alabama’s voter rolls and referred them for criminal prosecution. 

However, more than 2,000 targeted individuals have since been deemed eligible to vote. 

Manasco’s ruling gave Alabama officials three days to restore the active status of all wrongfully purged voters.