DOJ Sues Alabama After Vote Roll Purge
A lot of red states are doing some much-needed maintenance of their voter rolls before the election.
Alabama just cleaned up its voter rolls, and the Department of Justice is not happy.
According to the DOJ, Alabama did this far too close to the election.
Why Does That Matter?
According to the complaint, Alabama has violated federal law by removing voters from its election rolls so close to the election.
The law requires a “quiet period” before the election, but there are exceptions, such as someone dying or having moved out of state.
According to the law, names cannot be removed inside of 90 days of the election, and we are clearly inside that window right now.
Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen ordered the purge of more than 3,000 names he had identified as possible non-citizens on August 13, just 84 days before the election.
In a press release, he stated that “some of the individuals who were issued noncitizen identification numbers have, since receiving them, become naturalized citizens and are, therefore, eligible to vote.”
Allen has also been challenged by several voting advocate groups, and while he has not commented directly regarding their allegations, he has stated, “I will not bow down to threats from ultra-liberal activist groups who will stop at nothing in their quest to see noncitizens remain on Alabama’s voter rolls.”
There are two questions to be asked, one for each side of the aisle.
First, if someone is not eligible to vote, it should not matter when they are removed from the voter rolls if it means we are protecting the integrity of the election.
Second, why did Allen wait so long when he surely knew what the restrictions were in that law?
With the law being clear, I hate to say it, but I think Allen will lose this suit, and those names will be reinstated, which will surely create some outrage on the right.