A federal judge in Alabama has blocked an attempt to remove thousands of voters from the rolls just ahead of the upcoming presidential election.
U.S. District Judge Anna Manasco issued a preliminary injunction Wednesday, halting the voter purge initiated by Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen in August. The purge, which targeted alleged non-citizens, appeared to violate a federal law that prohibits systematic clean-up of voter lists within 90 days of a federal election.
In her strongly worded order, Manasco criticized Allen for missing the legal deadline, stating he “blew” what she called a “hard deadline.” She noted that the majority of the more than 3,200 individuals Allen sought to remove from the rolls were actually U.S. citizens.
