Alabama secretary of state assures voters swept up in purge that they can vote

Source: AP

Updated 4:21 PM EDT, October 22, 2024


MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama’s secretary of state has sent a letter to thousands of residents who were incorrectly made “inactive” on voter rolls to let them know they are indeed eligible to vote in the November elections.

The letters were sent to comply with a ruling by U.S. District Judge Anna Manasco that halted the voter “purge program” launched by the Alabama Republican Secretary of State Wes Allen in August. The state’s top election official originally touted the program, which made 3,251 registered voters inactive, as a way to begin the “process to remove noncitizens registered to vote in Alabama.”

According to a statement by Allen’s office Friday, his earlier news release about the purge “has been superseded by federal court order.” Testimony in court hearings revealed that approximately two-thirds of the voters swept up in Allen’s program were legally registered to vote. Allen instructed county registrars to send letters to reactivated voters informing them they are now eligible to vote in November.

The letter also assured reactivated voters that they would not be subject to criminal prosecution. Allen had originally said he was sending the list of over 3,000 inactivated voters to the attorney general’s office for “further investigation and possible criminal prosecution.”

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/alabama-voter-purge-secretary-state-allen-election-137c36e2ed6e6c1d9a1738015e5c5b83