Judge Orders Alabama to Halt Removal of Voters Flagged as Noncitizens Before Election
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A federal judge in Alabama has ordered the state to stop its efforts to remove thousands of registered voters suspected of being noncitizens from the voter rolls until after the November election. The ruling came on Tuesday night, just 21 days before Election Day after Alabama’s Secretary of State Wes Allen launched a controversial program to flag and remove potential noncitizens from voting lists.
U.S. District Judge Anna Manasco, a Donald Trump appointee, issued the ruling, instructing Alabama to cease moving voters identified by Allen’s program from active to “inactive” status. According to Manasco’s order, as reported by CNN, the program, which has been touted as part of Allen’s campaign for election integrity, aimed to prevent illegal voting by noncitizens.
In her ruling, Manasco expressed concerns about the consequences for voters wrongly flagged by the program. “As part of this program, they were all reported to Alabama’s chief law enforcement authority for criminal investigation,” she wrote in the order. “As far as I know nothing has been done to undo that.”
Manasco also emphasized the potential negative effects on voters mistakenly labeled as ineligible, noting that being flagged by the state could deter people from participating in the upcoming election. “I could not disregard the negative effect being flagged by the state would have on a potential voter,” she said, stressing that such actions could have serious repercussions for voters’ confidence in the process.
The ruling is a significant setback for Allen, who has made election integrity a focal point of his tenure. The program he introduced was intended to scrutinize voter rolls and prevent what he called illegal voting by noncitizens. However, civil rights groups and the Department of Justice filed lawsuits against the state, arguing that the program risked disenfranchising legitimate voters.
A hearing is scheduled for Wednesday morning, where Judge Manasco is expected to finalize the details of her order. In the meantime, the state must halt its efforts to move flagged voters to “inactive” status until the election is over.
This decision highlights ongoing tensions over voter access and election integrity in Alabama and across the United States. As Election Day approaches, efforts to protect voting rights while ensuring the integrity of voter rolls remain a contentious issue, with both sides of the debate closely watching the developments in this case.
