The U.S. Department of Justice announced Friday it filed a lawsuit against the State of Alabama and Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen over the secretary’s effort to remove voters from the state’s rolls too close to the Nov. 5 election.
Allen is also facing a lawsuit from individual Alabama voters — including American-born citizens — who say Allen tried to remove them from the rolls as part of a program to remove noncitizens from Alabama’s voting records.
It is illegal for people who are not citizens to register to vote in Alabama. A federal law enacted in 1996 makes it a crime for non-citizens to vote in federal elections.
In its lawsuit, the DOJ claimed Allen and Alabama are violating the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) of 1993 because the program has been instituted less than 90 days before the general election.
“The right to vote is one of the most sacred rights in our democracy,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a statement. “As Election Day approaches, it is critical that Alabama redress voter confusion resulting from its list maintenance mailings sent in violation of federal law. Officials across the country should take heed of the National Voter Registration Act’s clear and unequivocal restrictions on systematic list maintenance efforts that fall within 90 days of an election. 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 Justice Department will continue to use all the tools it has available to ensure that the voting rights of every eligible voter are protected.”
In a response to the lawsuit, Allen said: “I was elected Secretary of State by the people of Alabama, and it is my Constitutional duty to ensure that only American citizens vote in our elections. As to the question regarding the Department of Justice’s lawsuit, this office does not comment on pending litigation where the Secretary of State is a named defendant.”
An NVRA provision known as the Quiet Period Provision “is an important protection for voters, because systematic removal programs may be error-ridden, cause voter confusion and remove eligible voters days or weeks before Election Day who may be unable to correct the state’s errors in time to vote or may be dissuaded from voting at all,” according to the DOJ.
States are allowed to remove names from official voters lists for a multitude of reasons but cannot implement a removal program so close to a federal election, the agency said.
Allen announced the program on Aug. 13 — 84 days before the election.
“The Justice Department’s review found that both native-born and naturalized U.S. citizens have received letters stating that their voter record has been made inactive and that they have been placed on a path for removal from Alabama’s statewide voter registration list,” the DOJ said. “The letter directs recipients who are in fact U.S. citizens and eligible to vote to complete and submit an attached State of Alabama Voter Registration Form. In turn, that form instructs that people may not register to vote in the 14 days before an election. This systematic voter removal program, which the State is conducting within 90 days of the upcoming federal election, violates the Quiet Period Provision.”
The federal lawsuit would restore impacted voters’ rights to vote unimpeded on Election Day and would ban future violations of the Quiet Period Provision.
If the DOJ is victorious, Allen would have to send out mailings educating eligible voters about the restoration of their rights and adequate training of local officials and poll workers to address confusion and distrust among eligible voters accused of being noncitizens.
