CNN —A federal judge ordered Alabama’s Republican secretary of state on Wednesday to reverse a program that purged more than 3,000 names from the state’s voter rolls, agreeing with the Biden administration’s argument that the purge took place too close to the election. “For decades, federal law has given states a hard deadline to complete systematic purges of ineligible persons from voter rolls: no later than ninety days before a federal election. This year, Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen blew the deadline when he announced a purge program to begin eighty-four days before the 2024 General Election,” US District Judge Anna Manasco wrote in a 5-page preliminary injunction. Nonpartisan election law experts say it’s almost always caught when it does happen, and that it isn’t a widespread problem plaguing US elections. In a similar lawsuit brought last week in Virginia, the Justice Department alleged that state officials violated the NVRA “quiet period” by recently purging voters flagged as potential noncitizens.

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Persons: Biden, Wes Allen, Anna Manasco, Manasco, Donald Trump, Allen “, ”, Allen, ” Michelle Kanter Cohen Organizations: CNN, “, US Justice Department, Justice Department Locations: Alabama, States, Virginia