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Numerous advocacy groups Friday filed a lawsuit on behalf of Alabamians they say have been unfairly targeted by the state’s illegal voter purge.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, Campaign Legal Center and Fair Elections center filed the suit Friday on behalf of four individuals as well as the Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice, the Alabama NAACP and the League of Women Voters of Alabama.
The lawsuit comes on the heels of a letter the advocacy organizations sent to notify Secretary of State Wes Allen that Alabama’s voter purge program, which purges naturalized U.S. citizens from the state’s voter rolls shortly before the 2024 election, violates the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA).
“Last month, the SPLC and our partners put the Secretary of State on notice for announcing plans to systemically purge individuals on the voter rolls who are naturalized citizens within the 90-day period stipulated by the NVRA,” said Jess Unger, senior staff attorney for voting rights at Southern Poverty Law Center. “Today, we are suing to end this discriminatory program that’s in clear violation of the NVRA – and to protect the rights of thousands of eligible voters that the state of Alabama is trying to silence. No matter what barrier is put in place, we will work to ensure every voice in Alabama is heard.”
The purge announced by Allen would remove 3,251 individuals from the voter roll because they, at some point, had been issued a noncitizen identification number. Allen admitted in his announcement that such an individual could have become a naturalized citizen and eligible voter since being issued that ID.
“No American citizen should be denied their freedom to vote, and all Americans have the same freedom to vote regardless of where they were born. Instead of protecting Americans’ freedom to vote in the November election, Alabama is shamefully intimidating naturalized citizens and illegally purging qualified Americans from voter rolls,” said Bruce V. Spiva, senior vice president of CLC. “Our local election officials work hard to make sure only American citizens can vote. In practice, voter purges like what we are seeing in Alabama target naturalized citizens and prevent qualified Americans from exercising their right to vote. Our democracy works best when every American can participate without fear, and CLC will continue to fight for Americans’ freedom to vote.”
Allen has made election security a staple of his platform as secretary of state, focusing particularly on the prevention of undocumented immigrants from voting. His office was recently involved in the arrest of one such individual; however, they used identity theft to perpetrate the crime and were not themselves on the voter roll.
“It is a foundational principle of our country that every citizen, regardless of where they come from, has a voice in our democracy,” said Michelle Kanter Cohen, policy director and senior counsel at Fair Elections Center. “What’s more, this is the time for election officials to be reaching out and encouraging new voters to participate, instead of engaging in last-minute election-eve attempts to make it harder to vote for naturalized citizens who have worked so hard for their opportunity to have a say.”
“Secretary Allen’s actions are not making our elections any safer; instead, they are inactivating lawfully registered voters from the rolls and unnecessarily causing fear and intimidation,” said Kathy Jones, president of the League of Women Voters of Alabama. “Alabama voters need to know that the League is here to fight for them and is committed to ensuring all voters have the opportunity and accurate information to exercise their right to vote.”
“The Alabama NAACP is again dismayed by the Alabama Secretary of State efforts to disenfranchise voters. We know that this is a nationwide effort to provide excuses for certain candidates to use if they lose the elections on November 5. We are committed to doing all that we can to ensure that every voter votes and that every vote is counted despite what obstacles are put in our path,” said Benard Simelton, president of the Alabama NAACP.
