A voter removal program in Virginia illegally purged registered voters from the state’s rolls too close to this fall’s election, a federal judge ruled Friday.
U.S. District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles, who was nominated by President Biden, has ordered the state to put removed voters back on the state’s registration list and blocked Virginia from “continuing any systematic program intended to remove the names of ineligible voters” through Election Day.
“Virginia will immediately petition the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals and, if necessary, the U.S. Supreme Court, for an emergency stay of the injunction,” Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin said in a statement.
Former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, voiced his support for Virginia’s appeal on his social media platform, calling the order “a totally unacceptable travesty.”
Eligible voters in Virginia still have time to register to vote in this fall’s election. In-person voter registration continues at voting sites through Election Day.
The ruling marks the second time this month a federal court has temporarily blocked voter purging efforts by a Republican-led state for violating the National Voter Registration Act.
Passed in 1993, the federal law bans Virginia and most other states from systematically removing registered voters within the 90 days before a federal election. That “quiet period,” which began in August for this fall’s races, is designed so that eligible voters have enough time to work out any issues before they’re kicked off lists and can’t cast a ballot in an upcoming election.
In August, Youngkin issued an executive order calling for “daily updates” to the state’s voter rolls in order to remove people who were not able to verify they are U.S. citizens to the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles.
The Justice Department and immigrant advocacy groups argued in court that this voter removal program was carried out during the 90-day quiet period and relied on DMV data that can be wrong or out of date to determine people’s U.S. citizenship status.
After the judge ruled, challengers of Virginia’s program said the court’s decision would help ensure naturalized U.S. citizens in Virginia can exercise their right to vote this fall.
“Every American citizen, regardless of where they were born, has the freedom to vote,” Paul Smith, the Campaign Legal Center’s senior vice president, said in a statement. “We’re glad the court acted so every Virginian can make their voice heard in this upcoming election.”
"Last-minute voter purges not only violate the law but also undermine the core principles of our democracy, especially when they are premised on xenophobic lies," said Celina Stewart, CEO of the League of Women Voters of the United States, in a statement.
Trump has claimed on his social media platform that the DOJ case against Virginia was filed to help Democrats “cheat” in the upcoming election. There is no evidence for that assertion.
Documents that the court ordered the state to release show that Virginia’s program has removed more than 1,600 registered voters from its rolls during the quiet period, Ryan Snow, an attorney with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, who is representing the groups challenging Virginia, said Wednesday during a call with reporters.
Last week, a federal judge blocked a similar program led by Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen, a Republican. U.S. District Judge Anna Manasco, who was nominated by Trump, ruled that Allen “blew the deadline” under the National Voter Registration Act when he announced a voter purge program 84 days before the last day of voting.
Edited by Benjamin Swasey
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