Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen on Wednesday applauded a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court allowing Virginia to proceed with a program that officials in that state said is intended to remove non-citizens from the voting rolls.
Two weeks ago, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction blocking a similar effort started by Allen in Alabama.
“Today, the United States Supreme Court restored common sense to the issue of whether non-citizens should be able to register and/or vote in our elections,” Allen said about the Virginia ruling.
“Only US citizens are legally allowed to register to vote and cast a vote. Alabama joined the State of Kansas along with 24 other states in filing a brief in support of the Virginia case and I am proud to see this positive development. Today’s ruling is a victory for the U.S. Constitution.”
The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in favor of the state of Virginia’s request for a stay, a decision that temporarily puts on hold a lower court’s decision that blocked Virginia’s voter purge, which affects 1,600 voters.
Allen announced in August that his office had identified 3,251 registered voters who had been issued noncitizen identification numbers by the Department of Homeland Security.
Allen sent the names to county registrars to inactivate their voting status. He sent the names to the attorney general’s office for possible prosecution. It is illegal for noncitizens to vote or register to vote.
Allen acknowledged at the time that some on the list might be naturalized citizens. He said they could restore their active voter status by filling out a form.
The U.S. Department of Justice, as well as voters on the list who are U.S. citizens, sued to block Allen’s initiative.
On Oct. 16, U.S. District Judge Anna M. Manasco issued a preliminary injunction blocking the program and instructing Allen to restore the affected voters to active status and notify them of their eligibility. Manasco, who held a hearing in the case, said the program violated a federal law that required any systematic purge of voter rolls to be done at least 90 days before a federal election. Allen’s announcement came 84 days before the election.
Manasco also wrote in her order that Allen “later admitted that his purge list included thousands of United States citizens (in addition to far fewer noncitizens, who are ineligible to vote).”
Manasco wrote that her order applied only to the specific initiative announced in August and did not otherwise preclude removal of noncitizens from the voting rolls based on individual information.
Manasco’s order expires on Nov. 6, the day after the general election.
The ruling in Virginia will likely have no effect on the Alabama order.
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Publish date : 2024-10-30 09:37:00
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