A federal judge has ordered Alabama to stop trying to purge voters before Election Day
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
A federal judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked Alabama’s voter removal program in one of the major legal fights over voter purges in Republican-led states ahead of this fall’s Election Day.
The court ruling comes after the Justice Department and civil rights groups represented by the Campaign Legal Center challenged what the office of Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen, a Republican, has called “strategic efforts” to “remove noncitizens registered to vote” from the state’s voter rolls.
A federal law known as the National Voter Registration Act bans Alabama and other states from systematically removing people from their lists of registered voters within 90 days of a federal election, also known as the “quiet period” before Election Day.
In August, 84 days before Election Day, Allen announced a process for purging 3,251 registered Alabama voters who had been issued noncitizen identification numbers by the Department of Homeland Security. Non-U.S. citizens are not allowed to vote in federal and state elections. But among those put on the path to removal, Allen acknowledged , are U.S. citizens who were naturalized and are eligible to vote.
In the decision, U.S. District Judge Anna Manasco, who was nominated by former President Donald Trump, ruled that the state violated the NVRA’s “quiet period” provision and ordered Allen to put the voter removal program on pause through Nov. 5.
“This year, Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen (1) blew the deadline when he announced a purge program to begin eighty-four days before the 2024 General Election, (2) later admitted that his purge list included thousands of United States citizens (in addition to far fewer noncitizens, who are ineligible to vote), and (3) in any event, referred everyone on the purge list to the Alabama Attorney General for criminal investigation,” Manasco wrote in the court order.
Similar lawsuits have been filed in Virginia by the Justice Department , as well as the Virginia Coalition for Immigrant Rights . They are challenging an August executive order by Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin that calls for “daily updates” to the state’s voter list in order to remove “individuals who are unable to verify that they are citizens” to Virginia’s Department of Motor Vehicles.
The timing of the voter removals under the order violated the NVRA’s “quiet period” restriction, Virginia’s challengers argue. In court filings, they also point out that the DMV data used to determine a voter’s U.S. citizenship status can be wrong or out of date.
Youngkin, in a statement , called the DOJ lawsuit “a desperate attempt to attack the legitimacy of the elections” in Virginia.
That was echoed by Trump, who has been pushing baseless allegations of widespread noncitizen voting while campaigning for a second term. Providing no evidence, Trump said in a post on his social media platform that the Justice Department’s legal challenge is one of “the Greatest Examples of DOJ Weaponization” that was done to “CHEAT on the Election” by putting “Illegal Voters” back on Virginia’s voter rolls.
Another potential legal fight over recent voter purges is brewing in Ohio. Voting rights groups led by the American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter dated Oct. 3 to Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, a Republican, pointing to mass voter removals in some of the state’s counties that they argue did not follow NVRA requirements. The groups said they’re prepared to go to court if changes are not made within 20 days.
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"U.S. District Judge Anna Manasco, who was nominated by former President Donald Trump..."
I have nothing to add.
I read elsewhere that, I think it was Georgia, not sure, that the judge rejected the, initiative or whatever you would call it, of having all votes HAND counted on election day.
a maga stall tactic designed to run certification past the deadline so the anti-democracy crowd can drag it into a friendly court ...
no worries, those maga bottom feeders that want to interfere in a free and fair election by obstructing the results won't have any protection after all is said and done ...
The Biden DOJ is fighting to keep illegal aliens registered to vote before an election. Literally attacking election integrity.
The only things the Biden DOJ does at this point is harass Donald Trump and conservative protesters, catholics who prefer latin mass and protect illegal aliens.
The DoJ in this case is sticking to the letter of the law, is this a problem?
there's probably enough fact free bullshit in that comment to fertilize every desert on the planet.
Prove it.
No that was the State of Alabama.
Not a good look, Sean, not good at all.
Prove it.
The seed already did.
at was the State of Alabama
Sure, in bizarro land.
Not a good look, Sean, not good at all.
It is a terrible look for the DOJ to have become so politicized. Who knows how long it will take to recover its repuation.
No it did not.
The state violated the NVRA, period, they missed the deadline. That should be the end of any discussion.
Then Allen actually admitted that some of the people slated for removal were eligible to vote.
How fucked up is that for
One must assume that poll workers can identify and stop someone with a non citizen ID from working, but no,
Allen can't help himself. Being on the rolls is not important, the effort is just grandstanding for the base.
Ditto, Virginia's daily updates must be paused for 90 day prior to 11/05/2024.
They are prosecuting Federal election law, it's not political at all.
You are confused by partisanship and pointless references to Catholics and Mass in Latin.
Neither the president nor the DOJ register anyone to vote.
Are you claiming that the state of Alabama has been registering illegal aliens to vote in presidential elections? Or for any other purpose?
Right. That's why I wrote "keep"
Obviously. Mistakes will alway happen and making it easier for illegals to register is one of the purposes behind the NVRA Democrats passed in 1993. All you have to do is fill out a postcard.
The question is why the Biden administration won't allow states like Alabama or Virginia to fix those mistakes and protect the integrity of the election.
Well, that's either COMPLETE BULLSHIT, or Democrats are really bad at their supposed "purposes" because as EVERY FUCKING investigation has shown and even Trumps own handpicked Attorney General said there is " no evidence of widespread voter fraud". Disputing Trump, Barr says no widespread election fraud | AP News
I think it's a pretty safe bet to accept that your ridiculous claim is COMPLETE BULLSHIT" after looking at the facts. But of course, Trump supporters HATE facts almost as much as they hate liberals and progressives because FACTS keep proving them wrong and stupid and complete gullible morons which are the exact type of voter Trump sought out and loves because they are so fucking easy to manipulate.
"We won with poorly educated. I love the poorly educated." - Donald J Trump
Again, there is NO law that Democrats have supported that makes it "easier for illegals to register" to vote, that is a fucking lie and the worthless scum who make that claim should be ashamed of themselves because they KNOW they're lying. But I guess some people will do and say anything to support their candidate even if they're a convicted felon. Or rather, I guess a convicted felon's supporters know they have to lie if they expect their candidate to win.
Source?
You know that bill passed with bipartisan support.
Again, it’s not the Biden administration doing it. It’s a Trump-appointed federal judge enforcing federal law.
I would say the real questions are 1) where is the proof that illegal aliens are registered to vote - and voting - in Alabama or Virginia and 2) why, in 30 years have they not bothered to fix it until right now? They could have done this a year ago and it would have been fine. Now, you want to act like Biden is stopping them. Biden isn’t even involved. They were sued by civil rights groups.
Oh, it’s definitely complete bullshit.
Lol. Who is suing the states?
Bingo.
Let it go Sean.
As we all know, there is no election fraud. Can’t be.
No way.
Yeah, no one said that, though.
The way you guys move the goalposts every time someone pushes back on the BS is hilarious…or sad. It’s one of them.
Allowing non citizens to vote is election fraud.
No amount of spin can change that reality.
It would be, if anyone “allowed” it. Can you identify someone who has allowed it?
No but that answer is problematic for a number of reasons. The first being can you identify a truly “thorough, independent and unbiased” investigation to find such fraud?
They are being sued by the Biden DOJ
and civil rights groups. They are not being sued by “the Biden administration.” In spite of what Trump believes - or would like to be true - the Justice Department operates pretty independently from the president. It could be more independent than it is - and many think it should be - but the president is not launching or directing DOJ investigations into state election law.
are not being sued by “the Biden administration.”
The DOJ is part of the Executive Branch. It is as part of the Biden administration as its possible to be.
You know this for sure how?
Nor is he stopping or condemning it.
So they think Uncle Joe is so feeble and senile as to not be able to function day-to-day WH functions, but he can micromanage the DoJ? I truly don't understand the logic of these people.
Nor should he if the DoJ is supposed to be independent.
It’s called “trying to have it both ways.”
Actually, no. The opposite, in fact. There are several protections at play regarding the DOJ to insulate it from the White House. As I said, it’s not total, but it’s stronger than in other departments. This became particularly important in the wake of Watergate.
Do you think he can't say yes or no? Biden had no problem making the call on searching Mar-a-Lago.
No. The opposite would be if the DOJ were not a part of the executive branch. It's an executive agency and the President controls all executive agencies. It's "independence" is demonstrated by Obama using the office to his self described wingman there to best protect him.
Unless you have something with him saying yes, or no, you have nothing but conjecture.
Biden got a memo. He probably got a memo on this too, but that doesn't mean he micromanages the DoJ.
Thank you for pointing out the facts.
He's the chief executive officer. His job is to oversee the executive branch. It's amazing how nothing the executive branch does, is apparently his responsibility. So much for the buck stops with him. With Biden and Harris, it's point the fingers and claim and blame others.
It's such a laughable, desperate ploy to pretend the President has no control over the agencies he oversees.
unless trump is in office ...
Well, it these purges can somehow be construed to be election interference, what should we called Jack Smith's belated new charges against Trump?
Desperation that many in the current DOJ will lose their jobs in January.
Anna works for me, you?
I was thinking Claire Ificashun.
ugh ...
You’re free to explain how any charges - old, new, or refiled - actually interfere with the election.
For a 'campaign' that's been going for four years now. Ever since 1/6, so not quite........
Yeah, and something like 300 thousand people voted early in Georgia on Tuesday. That’s a record. It sure as hell isn’t “interfering” with anything there.
I heard that also. Freaking awesome.
I'm going to be an election judge for early voting on two days and on Election Day.
I'm excited.
don't forget to notify the authorities when some maga moron shows up wearing trump paraphernalia ...
They are not new charges. It is a refiling after the SCOTUS ruled that some actions couldn't be tried, so they dropped charges that applied to that ruling.
Late Edit: It's not even a refiling - Smith submitted a brief on which charges he wants to retain - the judge was tasked with going through the original charges and tossing those she doesn't think apply per the new SCOTUS ruling.
like superseding indictments, a legitimate legal effort, just like all of trumps judicial stalling attempts ...