Judge: Restore voter roll names | The Detroit News | detnews.com

In a 43-page opinion, Murphy ruled that Michigan's Secretary of State violates federal law through two methods it uses to purge names from its list of qualified voters.

Murphy ordered election officials to immediately halt and attempt to rectify one of the two practices -- canceling voter registrations for those whose voter identification card is returned as undeliverable.

He ordered the state to remove the "rejected" marking in the qualified voter file for all people whose original voter ID cards have been returned as undeliverable since Jan. 1, 2006. About 1,500 people have been removed from the voter list in that manner this year, according to evidence presented in the case.

Murphy said a second Michigan practice -- immediately canceling the voter registration of those who apply for a driver's license in another state -- also violates the National Voting Rights Act.

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