A federal judge has ordered Virginia to restore the names it removed from its voter rolls.
According to the Department of Justice, Virginia’s removal of ineligible voters violated the National Voter Registration Act, which prohibits the removal of names from voter rolls within 90 days of an election.
Voters are removed from the state’s rolls after the DMV sends a list to the state of those who declared themselves to be non-citizens.
“Let’s be clear about what just happened: only eleven days before a Presidential election, a federal judge ordered Virginia to reinstate over 1,500 individuals–who self-identified themselves as noncitizens–back onto the voter rolls,” Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) said. “Almost all these individuals had previously presented immigration documents confirming their noncitizen status, a fact recently verified by federal authorities.”
“This is a Virginia law passed in 2006, signed by then-Governor Tim Kaine, that mandates certain procedures to remove noncitizens from the voter rolls, with safeguards in place to affirm citizenship before removal–and the ultimate failsafe of same-day registration for U.S. citizens to cast a provisional ballot. This law has been applied in every Presidential election by Republicans and Democrats since enacted 18 years ago,” he continued.
“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.”
