Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen applauded a U.S. Supreme Court ruling Wednesday allowing Virginia to implement a program that state officials say is aimed at eradicating non- citizens from the electoral lists.

Two weeks ago, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction blocking a similar effort launched by Allen in Alabama.

“Today, the United States Supreme Court restored common sense on the question of whether non-citizens should be able to register and/or vote in our elections,” Allen said of the decision. Virginia.

“Only U.S. citizens are legally allowed to register to vote and vote. Alabama joined the State of Kansas and 24 other states in filing a brief in support of Virginia’s case, and I am proud to see this positive development. “Today’s decision is a victory for the U.S. Constitution.”

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in favor of Virginia’s request for a stay, a ruling that temporarily stays a lower court’s ruling that blocked Virginia’s voter purge, which affects 1 600 voters.

Allen announced in August that his office had identified 3,251 registered voters who had been assigned non-citizen identification numbers by the Department of Homeland Security.

Allen sent the names to county clerks to deactivate their voting status. He sent the names to the attorney general’s office for possible prosecution. It is illegal for non-citizens to vote or register to vote.

Allen acknowledged at the time that some on the list might be naturalized citizens. He said they could restore their active voter status by filling out a form.

The US Department of Justice, as well as registered voters who are American citizens, sued to block Allen’s initiative.

On October 16, U.S. District Judge Anna M. Manasco issued a preliminary injunction blocking the program and direct Allen to restore the active status of affected voters and inform them of their eligibility. Manasco, who held a hearing in the case, said the program violated a federal law that required any systematic purge of voter rolls to be done at least 90 days before a federal election. Allen’s announcement came 84 days before the election.

Manasco also wrote in his order that Allen “later admitted that his purge list included thousands of U.S. citizens (in addition to far fewer non-citizens, who are not eligible to vote).”

Manasco wrote that his order applied only to the specific initiative announced in August and did not otherwise prevent the removal of noncitizens from voter rolls based on individual information.

Manasco’s term expires on November 6, the day after the general elections.

The Virginia ruling likely will have no effect on Alabama’s order.