Virginia has officially requested the U.S. Supreme Court’s assistance in reinstating the removal of approximately 1,600 voters from its rolls, whom state officials suspect are noncitizens.
This appeal follows a unanimous decision by a federal appeals court, which upheld a lower court’s ruling that reinstated these voters. The ruling stated that their removal was executed unlawfully under an executive order by the state’s Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin.
Youngkin defended his actions, asserting that the daily removals were a necessary measure to prevent noncitizens from casting votes. However, U.S. District Judge Patricia Giles ruled that this practice violated federal law because it conducted systematic purges during a 90-day “quiet period” before the upcoming November election.
Earlier this month, the Justice Department and various private organizations initiated legal action against Youngkin’s removal plan, arguing that the quiet period serves to protect legitimate voters from being erroneously removed due to administrative errors or last-minute changes that might not be corrected in time.
Youngkin contended that he was merely enforcing a law that mandates the cancellation of noncitizens’ voter registrations in Virginia.
On Sunday, a panel of three judges from the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond supported Judge Giles’ decision to restore the affected voters.
The appeals court clarified that Virginia was incorrect in claiming it was obligated to restore the 1,600 noncitizens to the voter lists. Instead, the court found no evidence that those removed were, in fact, noncitizens, pointing out deficiencies in Virginia’s voter removal procedures.
As part of Youngkin’s executive order issued in August, regular checks were mandated between the Department of Motor Vehicles’ data and the voter rolls in order to pinpoint noncitizens.
State authorities reported that any voter flagged as a noncitizen was informed and given a two-week period to contest the disqualification before their removal occurred. If a voter submitted a form confirming their citizenship, their registration would remain active.
The plaintiffs in the case argued that under this system, a legitimate citizen could unintentionally lose their registration merely by making a mistake on a DMV form. They provided evidence indicating that some voters who were removed were undoubtedly citizens.
A similar situation arose in Alabama, where a federal court recently mandated that the state restore eligibility for over 3,200 voters marked as noncitizens. Testimonies in that case revealed that roughly 2,000 of the 3,251 people rendered inactive were actually registered citizens.
The decision from the appeals court was authored by Toby Heytens, appointed by Biden, and was concurred by Chief Judge Albert Diaz and Judge Stephanie Thacker, both appointees from the Obama administration.
The panel reasserted that while Virginia has the authority to remove noncitizens from its rolls even during the 90-day quiet period, such removals must follow a more individualized procedure instead of a broad data-driven approach.
Virginia is home to nearly 6 million registered voters.
