On Friday, October 18, the Alabama Secretary of State’s Office was directed to announce that the information contained in its August 13 press release had been superseded by a federal court order. The original press release detailed Secretary of State Wes Allen’s plan to purge 3,251 people registered to vote in Alabama from the voter rolls ahead of the November general election.

Allen initially created the list of individuals to be purged based on non-citizen identification numbers provided by the Department of Homeland Security, ordering every county in Alabama to remove their names from the voter rolls. Allen also “referred all individuals on the purge list to the Alabama Attorney General for criminal investigation.” However, on October 16, a United States district court issued an injunction that effectively struck down Allen’s “process to suppress noncitizens registered to vote in Alabama.”

The injunction stems from two lawsuits against Allen and his program, one initiated by affected individuals and the other by the U.S. Department of Justice.

According to the injunction, Allen “announced that a purge program would begin eighty-four days before the 2024 general election” – a violation of federal law which requires that all systematic purges of ineligible voters must be completed.” no later than ninety days before a federal election.” election.” The injunction also states that Allen “admitted that his purge list included thousands of U.S. citizens (in addition to far fewer non-citizens, who are not eligible to vote).”

Individuals who have received non-citizen identification numbers from the Department of Homeland Security may become naturalized citizens after the fact and, therefore, become eligible to vote as legal U.S. citizens. There is no reason to assume that the 3,251 names on Allen’s purge list are not eligible voters.

Now, pursuant to the court’s findings regarding the 90-day provision of the National Voter Registration Act, Allen and the State of Alabama have been “provisionally enjoined from continuing the program intended to systematically suppress voter names ineligible from the registration lists”. Additionally, the injunction directs county clerks to “immediately restore the active status of the voter registration records of registrants inactivated under the program.”

Allen must also order county registrars to send a “corrective letter to each inactivated registrant under the program who has not subsequently submitted a voter suppression request” informing them that their active voter status has been restored and they can vote. on election day. Mailers will also notify noncitizens that they remain ineligible to vote.

Those who have submitted voter suppression requests after being inactivated by the program must also be informed “that if they are U.S. citizens and qualify as voters, they are eligible to vote and may re-register to vote “.

The court also required Allen to contact Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall’s office, informing them that the 3,251 Alabamians referred to the attorney general for criminal investigation had been “wrongly referred.”

The court order does not prevent the Secretary of State from removing names from the official electoral roll “at the request of the registered person, because of a criminal conviction or mental incapacity (as provided for in the state law), due to the death of the registrant.” , or on the basis of individualized information on non-citizenship.

The mandated press release issued by Allen’s office acknowledges the injunction, which will expire the day after the 2024 general election on November 6, and concedes that his August press release regarding the program “has been superseded by a federal court order.”

The press release also includes a link to the preliminary injunction order, as well as sample copies of the court-ordered corrective letters that will be sent to the 3,251 individuals involved in the now-canceled program.