CHARLESTON – The U.S. Supreme Court says Virginia can revive its effort to remove potential non-citizens from voters rolls ahead of next week’s general election.
In a 6-3 order issued October 30, the justices blocked a federal court ruling that halted the program and forced the state to restore 1,600 voters to the rolls.
“This is a victory for commonsense and election fairness,” Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin said in a statement. “Virginians can cast their ballots on Election Day knowing that Virginia’s elections are fair, secure, and free from politically-motivated interference.”
Morrisey
| Courtesy photo
States are barred from systematically removing people from voters rolls within 90 days of an election under the National Voter Registration Act. Virginia’s plan targeted people who checked a box on a Department of Motor Vehicles form declaring they are not a citizen or if they left it blank.
Last week, U.S. District Judge Patricia Giles forced the state to stop its program and restore the 1,600 voter registrations.
Virginia has same-day voter registration, so any eligible voter removed still should be able to vote.
The Biden administration as well as several civil rights groups challenged the Virginia plan, saying it could lead to some legal voters being removed from the rolls as well. The U.S. Justice Department said that while states can review its voter rolls, it cannot do so right before an election, citing the 90-day rule from the National Voter Registration Act.
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, a Republican like Youngkin, joined a 26-state GOP coalition led by Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach supporting Virginia’s plan.
“This is the correct decision, and it’s really very simple: only U.S. citizens are allowed to vote, period,” Morrisey said in a press release. “This is about safeguarding our democratic election process.”
The 26-state amicus brief argued that a preliminary injunction that halted the state of Virginia from removing self-identified noncitizens from its rolls undermines states’ authority to determine voter qualifications. Virginia’s law provides mechanisms to protect election integrity, while ensuring only U.S. citizens remain on voter rolls.
“The upcoming election is hotly contested and has caused division around the country. Perhaps the division would be lower if the federal government were not interfering with the election via last-minute attacks on state efforts to police voter qualifications,” the amicus brief reads.
The coalition argued that the Eastern District of Virginia Court’s recent decision to temporarily stop Virginia from removing noncitizens from its rolls would have resulted in Congress forcing a state to allow noncitizens to vote in an election over the objection of that state.
It converted Virginia’s statute into a federal mandate that forces states to allow noncitizens to vote in an upcoming election in violation of state law and federal law itself when a noncitizen is discovered on the rolls within 90 days of an election, according to the brief.
Morrisey joined the Kansas-led brief with Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.