Biden-Harris DOJ sues Alabama over purging non-citizens from voter rolls 'too close' to election

The Biden-Harris Department of Justice has sued the state of Alabama for launching a program aimed at taking non-citizens off the voter rolls prior to the 2024 election because it was "too close" to November 5. Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen announced in August his plan to remove 3,251 individuals from the rolls he cited as non-citizens who had registered to vote.

According to a press release from the DOJ, Alabama violated section 8(c)(2) National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) which dictates that a state cannot "later than 90 days prior to the date of a primary or general election for Federal office, [complete] any program" that "systematically remove the names of ineligible voters from the official lists of eligible voters."



Since the program was announced on August 13, the program was within the 90-day limit of the statute. At the time, Moore stated in a press release, "I will not tolerate the participation of non-citizens in our elections."

"I have even gone so far as to testify before a United States Senate Committee regarding the importance of this issue. We have examined the current voter file in an attempt to identify anyone who appears on that list that has been issued a noncitizen identification number."

The DOJ, however, has taken aim over the actions from Moore, suing the state over the violation of the NVRA, citing that there were some naturalized citizens who sent letters informing them that they had been taken off the voter rolls. However, the state of Alabama planned for the error, and the DOJ admitted as such in the release, writing, "The letter directs recipients who are in fact U.S. citizens and eligible to vote to complete and submit an attached State of Alabama Voter Registration Form."

The DOJ's Attorney General Kristen Clarke said about the lawsuit that "it is critical that Alabama redress voter confusion resulting from its list maintenance mailings sent in violation of federal law."

Non-citizens voting in elections has become a topic of concern under the Biden-Harris administration, as the border crisis continues, and non-citizens have come into the country in record numbers over the last few years.