A federal judge is expected to decide whether to halt a system that allows Virginia to strike possible noncitizens from voter rolls.
The National Voter Registration Act requires a 90-day “quiet period” ahead of elections for the maintenance of voter rolls. The quiet period is designed to ensure that mistakes don’t accidentally disenfranchise legitimate voters ahead of an election without an opportunity to rectify the error.
However, on Aug. 7—90 days before the Nov. 5 federal election—Gov. Glenn Youngkin issued an executive order that requires daily updates to voter lists to remove people who are “unable to verify that they are citizens” when filling out forms at the DMV.
A lawsuit filed against Virginia says the executive order violates federal law. Lawyers argued the case all day Thursday and court is slated to resume at 9:30 a.m. Friday morning.
Hundreds of people have been impacted, with more than 1,600 Virginians having their voter registration canceled since August under the state program.
A spokesperson for Protect Democracy, one of the legal groups that helped file the lawsuit on behalf of the League of Women Voters, said that these voters were removed after the 90-day quiet period was to have taken effect.
The spokesperson, Aaron Baird, said that lawyers are continuing to review the information but have already found many naturalized citizens who were wrongly purged from the rolls.
Critics are asking a federal judge to issue a temporary injunction to stop the process and for canceled voter registrations to be restored.
In media interviews, Youngkin has questioned the Justice Department’s motives for filing the lawsuit.
“How can I as a governor allow noncitizens to be on the voter roll?” Youngkin asked rhetorically during an appearance of Fox News Sunday.
Nearly 6 million Virginians are registered to vote.
A similar lawsuit was filed in Alabama, and a federal judge there last week ordered the state to restore eligibility for more than 3,200 voters who had been deemed ineligible noncitizens. Testimony from state officials in that case showed that roughly 2,000 of the 3,251 voters who were made inactive were legally registered citizens.
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