Alabama’s program that flagged thousands of registered voters and accused them of illegally registering must stop until after the presidential election, a federal judge ruled this evening.

Judge Anna M. Manasco said that Alabama must stop moving those voters from active to “inactive” status, as the election is just three weeks away.

“As part of this program, they were all reported to Alabama’s chief law enforcement authority for criminal investigation,” said Judge Manasco, adding “as far as I know nothing has been done to undo that.”

Manasco, who was appointed to the federal bench by former President Donald Trump in 2020, said she could not discount the negative impact that such a notice from the state would have on a potential voter.

[Read more: Caroleene Dobson, Shomari Figures debate in pivotal Alabama congressional race]

At issue in Manasco’s courtroom in downtown Birmingham today was Secretary of State Wes Allen’s program, which was announced as a measure to prevent illegal voting by noncitizens. Allen, a Republican, has made election integrity a major issue for his administration.

The Associated Press reports that incidents of noncitizens voting in federal elections are rare.

The U.S. Department of Justice, along with several civil rights and advocacy organizations, sued Allen and the state, alleging that his program snared and intimidated legal voters, potentially dissuading them from going to polls.

Allen’s office sent notices to 3,251 people, questioning their right to vote and notifying them that their registration status had been changed to inactive. Of those, more than 2,074 people have since been deemed eligible to vote, both sides agreed during court.

Judge Manasco said those numbers clearly supported the DOJ’s claim that harm could be done without an injunction to delay the program.

Another major issue in the case involves a federal rule that pauses changes to election rules beginning 90 days before an election. The DOJ alleged Allen and Alabama were violating the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 which bans chanes so close to the general election.

Manasco said the state’s program was clearly ongoing just weeks before the election, in violation of the federal rules.

While granting a victory to the DOJ and civil rights groups, the judge declined to extend the injunction beyond the Nov. 5 election or to rule on arguments that the Secretary of State’s program is discriminatory or designed to disenfranchise legal voters.

To the contrary, she said the state’s correction that restored voter status to some of the people showed that officials made an effort at fairness.

“Those efforts underscore the importance of the 90-day deadline,” she said. “It also illustrates to me that a workable, achievable relief is not out of reach.”

In his closing arguments, Dan Freeman, a DOJ attorney, highlighted the confusion caused by the notices.

“We know that the program was wildly inaccurate,” he said.

Kathryn Huddleston, an attorney representing several advocacy organizations, said the state’s program “injected chaos and uncertainty into the 2024 election.”

State lawyers said the program supports open and fair elections in the state.

“The secretary wants every eligible Alabamian to vote, and he has made it easy to do so,” said attorney Robert Overing, who noted that Allen’s office sent vans to rural areas to take people to obtain needed voting documents.

Lawyers remained in the courtroom late Tuesday night to work on a compromise order. They will reconvene Wednesday morning, when the judge said she will sign off on the details of the order.