Secretary of State Wes Allen recently announced an initiative from his office to remove thousands of non-citizen voters from Alabama's voter files, expressing frustration with the federal government's lack of assistance.
On Tuesday, Allen said his office had begun implementing the initiative to clean up the state's rolls. He began by instructing the Boards of Registrars in all 67 Alabama counties to inactivate and initiate steps necessary to remove everyone who is not an American citizen from the voter rolls.
He also provided the list of registered voters identified as having been issued a non-citizen identification number to Attorney General Steve Marshall's office for further investigation and possible criminal prosecution.
During an appearance on Montgomery radio NewsTalk 93.1 "News and Views" with Joey Clark, Allen stated he began taking an interest in securing the state's elections from his first day in office.
"We started this from scratch and I'm the first Secretary of State in Alabama to undertake this effort," Allen said. "You know, since the first day I stepped into this office, put my left hand on the bible, raised my right hand; as soon as I put that down and went to work. We've made strategic efforts to make sure we've got the cleanest and most accurate voter file in the country. We have got a great team in place over here. We've locked arms. We all think alike and we have been pushing very, very hard all in the same direction, making sure that Alabama's elections are safe, secure, transparent, accountable. And part of that is making sure our voter file is clean and free of anyone that's on the voter file illegally."
He continued, "We've identified 3,200 or so individuals that are registered to vote in Alabama who have also been issued a non-citizen identification number, basically an alien identification number, by the Department of Homeland Security, and then we took the steps today to instruct the boards of registrars from all 67 counties to immediately inactivate, and initiate steps necessary to remove these individuals who are not United States citizens."
Allen further stated that his office was forced to take creative measures to identify non-citizen voters after receiving little help from the feds. Allen didn't detail what means his office used to track down the ineligible voters. However, it seems to involve accessing federal data used by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
"It's been over a year-and-a-half now I've been in office," Allen continued. "Being faced with red tape and bureaucracy from the federal government side, trying to obtain, ascertain this information to let us check, let us run the data, make sure that no one is illegally on our voter files. And so, we had to just think outside the box, and we are continuing every day to refine this process that we started. We're excited about what we're able to do in the past, and with this effort as well. We want to make sure the people of Alabama have confidence in our elections because I know that they're like me; I'm like y'all. We watch the national news. We see what's going on in other states, and especially what's happening at the Southern border: the invasion that's taking place. But, we're pleased by what we've been able to accomplish so far, and we're going to keep working, keep moving forward."
Allen said there are avenues for those nationalized after receiving their non-citizen identification numbers from the DHS. Applicable individuals can present valid state identification when registering to vote.
"That's one of the things that we've implemented since I've been in office that's never been done here, Joey, is that we are requiring an Alabama valid driver's license or an Alabama valid non-driver ID, or their social security number," Allen explained. "And then, every night, after they register to vote, it pings off of other databases that we have access to, to make sure they are verified and they are a legal citizen."
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email craig.monger@1819news.com.
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