Group Appeals Judge’s Order That Requires Citizenship Proof for Voter Registration

Voting rights groups are appealing a judge’s order which they say threatens to disenfranchise tens of thousands of voters in three states in the upcoming November elections.

A notice of appeal filed Friday to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia seeks a quick review of the actions of a U.S. elections official who added proof-of-citizenship requirements on a federal mail-in voter registration form.

The groups seek to set aside the executive director of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission’s “unauthorized and unilateral” modification requiring citizenship documentation for residents of Kansas, Alabama and Georgia.

Their filing contends the action – taken without public notice – violates federal law. It says that evidence of those violations is so overwhelming that the Justice Department agreed it should be immediately overturned.

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