A judge barred the Alabama secretary of state from moving forward with a program designed to clear noncitizens from the state’s voter rolls, saying in an order on Wednesday that the program violated federal law and had a high error rate.

Judge Anna Manasco said that when Secretary of State Wes Allen, an elected Republican, deactivated more than 3,200 registered voters because of questions about their citizenship, the move violated a provision in the National Voter Registration Act that bans the systematic removal of registered voters within 90 days of an election.