The Department of Justice (DOJ) sued Alabama Friday over its effort to remove non-citizens from the state’s voter rolls.
Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen initiated an effort in August to remove noncitizens from the voter rolls after identifying 3,251 registered voters who had been issued noncitizen identification numbers by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). According to the DOJ’s press release, the lawsuit alleges Alabama’s removal of voters from its state registration list within 90 days of the election violates federal law.
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“The right to vote is one of the most sacred rights in our democracy,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division said in a statement Friday. “As Election Day approaches, it is critical that Alabama redress voter confusion resulting from its list maintenance mailings sent in violation of federal law.”
Clarke said officials nationwide 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.”
“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,” Allen said in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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Allen said his office “does not comment on pending litigation where the Secretary of State is a named defendant.”
According to Allen’s August announcement, the federal government repeatedly denied the state’s requests for a list of noncitizens residing in Alabama.
“I have been clear that I will not tolerate the participation of noncitizens in our elections,” Allen said in August. “I have even gone so far as to testify before a United States Senate Committee regarding the importance of this issue.”
While Allen noted that some individuals may have become citizens eligible to vote since they were issued noncitizen identification numbers, the state’s effort, according to his announcement, allows them to update their information and vote once it is verified.
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The DOJ’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,” according to the press release. Citizens who received letters were instructed to submit an attached voter registration form.
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