Judge in Michigan Orders Voters Back on Rolls, Purging Violated Federal Law

Chalk one up for the American Civil Liberties Union, in their attempt to protect voters in Michigan. According to the Washington Post:

Michigan violated federal law when it removed about 1,500 newly registered voters from its rolls this year after voter identification cards mailed to them were returned undelivered, a federal judge ruled today. Those voters, along with any removed since 2006 on the same basis, must be returned to the rolls unless there was another reason to have questioned their eligibility, ordered Judge Stephen J. Murphy III of the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Michigan. Murphy told the state to immediately stop the cancellations and remove any designation in poll books that would prevent the voters' ballots from being counted if they appear at the polls on Election Day and meet whatever further proof of identification would otherwise apply to them. The removals violated the federal "motor voter" act by immediately canceling the registrations on the basis of the returned mail. Under that federal law, a voter whose registration information bounces back should have been allowed to remain on the rolls for a cycle of two general elections for federal office.

Murphy has yet to rule on a second, related challenge to Michigan registrations based on cancellations of voters who apply for a license in another state.