A settlement stemming from the New York City Board of Elections' illegal voter purge is now official. A federal judge signed the consent decree Wednesday, which starts the clock ticking for the Board to complete a series of remedial steps.

The board must review all the names of voters purged since July 1, 2013 and restore any voter who was removed in violation of state or federal election law. It also has to create a comprehensive remedial plan within 90 days that addresses the specific violations of the Election Law. If all parties don't agree to the board's plan, it could go back to court.

"This sort of consent decree could very well serve as a model for other jurisdictions that present the same problems as New York City did," said Ezra Rosenberg, with the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under law.

The lawsuit spurring the settlement was filed in November 2016 by the Lawyers Committee, Latino Justice PRLDEF and Dechert LLP on behalf of the good government group Common Cause and several named plaintiffs. They sued the city board for improperly removing voters from the rolls in violation of the National Voter Registration Act. Both the Justice Department and New York Attorney General joined the lawsuit in January 2017.

The parties on both sides presented a draft settlement to the court in October of this year, first reported by WNYC.

In his order, federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis made note of the board's "detailed admission of fault" and said it provided sufficient evidence for approving the decree.

The agreement will remain in place through at least two federal election cycles. That means through the 2020 elections.

The City Board of Elections did not respond to a request for comment. 

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