Colorado Secretary of State Donetta Davidson, just weeks before the 2004 election,
removed 6000 "felons" from the voter rolls. But there were a few problems with this step.
Federal law bars voter purges within 90 days of an election, so Davidson's move
was illegal, except she declared it was an "emergency" to do it, hence it
was legal.
By Colorado law, felons lose their vote
only while actually serving prison time.
No Colorado con has ever been known to vote while
in prison. So this was not exactly a suddenly necessary emergency move.
Conveniently for (Republican) Davidson, the list of felons was overwhelmingly Democratic.
Postscript: Davidson was rewarded for her efforts by being made chair of the
US federal "election assistance commission" in 2007.