Alabama's secretary of state assures voters caught in the purge that they can vote

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama's secretary of state has sent a letter to thousands of residents who were incorrectly classified as “inactive” on voter rolls, letting them know that they are actually eligible to vote in the November election.

The letters were sent to comply with a ruling by U.S. District Judge Anna Manasco stopping the voter purge program launched by Republican Secretary of State Wes Allen in August. The state's top elections official had originally touted the program, which rendered 3,251 registered voters inactive, as a way to begin the “process of removing non-citizens registered to vote in Alabama.”

According to a statement from Allen's office Friday, his previous press release about the cleanup “has been superseded by a federal court order.”

Testimony at court hearings revealed that about two-thirds of voters who participated in Allen's scheme were legally registered to vote.

Allen directed county registrars to send letters to reactivated voters informing them that they were now eligible to vote in November.

The letter also assured reactivated voters that they would not be prosecuted. Allen had originally said he would send the list of more than 3,000 inactivated voters to the attorney general's office for “further investigation and possible criminal prosecution.”

According to court documents, at least 159 of the 3,251 people who received the Secretary of State's initial notice subsequently filled out forms to be completely removed from the voter rolls. These voters will not automatically be re-registered.

Clay Helms, Allen's chief of staff, said in written testimony that “some individuals” indicated they were non-citizens who were illegally registered to vote.

Others, according to court documents, were legal voters who submitted removal forms by mistake or based on confusing instructions from local election officials.

Those voters were informed in a separate letter that if the removal was a mistake, they could re-register before the Oct. 21 registration deadline. This deadline expired on Monday.

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