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“The U.S. Supreme Court has reinstated Virginia's decision ahead of the Nov. 5 election to purge from its voter rolls about 1,600 people who state officials concluded were not American citizens… Governor Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, on Aug. 7 announced a new policy for culling from Virginia's official voter registration list people ‘unable to verify that they are citizens,’ with daily data sharing among state agencies…
“The challengers argued, among other things, that Virginia's voter roll purge violated a 1993 federal law called the National Voter Registration Act [NVRA] that contains a so-called ‘quiet period provision’ barring states from the ‘systematic’ - as opposed to individualized - removal of people on voter lists within 90 days of an election…
“Of the roughly 1,600 people removed from Virginia's voter rolls since Aug. 7, about 600 had indicated to the DMV that they were not U.S. citizens, according to Virginia's filing to the Supreme Court. The other 1,000 had presented documents to the DMV showing they were noncitizen residents, and were later identified as noncitizens through a federal database… Those who were flagged for removal were first notified and given 14 days to affirm their citizenship before being taken off Virginia's list of registered voters.” Reuters
Here’s our recent Spotlight on voter roll maintenance. The Flip Side
The left criticizes the Court’s ruling, arguing that it will cause citizens to be wrongly purged.
“The elections director in Prince William County said Youngkin’s order required him to toss out the registration of 43 voters even though they had certified their citizenship as many as five times. Two voters had their registration canceled even though their applications contained ‘NEW CITIZEN’ stamps. One voter was removed from the rolls despite having been born in Virginia. Another natural-born citizen who recently renewed her driver’s license found her registration had been canceled when she turned up to vote early.”
Ruth Marcus, Washington Post
“[The NVRA] outlawed any state ‘program’ that ‘systematically’ removes ‘ineligible voters from the official lists of eligible voters’ starting 90 days before a federal election. Congress enacted the statute in recognition of the obvious fact that these purges often caught up eligible voters, as well, creating confusion and threatening civil rights. Nonetheless, Youngkin issued an executive order exactly 90 days before the Nov. 5 election…
“Perhaps the majority accepted Virginia’s argument that its program was not the kind of ‘systematic’ purge proscribed by federal law because it undertook an ‘individualized approach.’ If so, then the majority has effectively gutted this law altogether. All the state did was compare data fields; it did not investigate each voter, name by name, to ensure that they were actually ineligible. This program was thus a quintessential example of a systematic purge.”
Mark Joseph Stern, Slate
“‘There [have] been no prosecutions of any noncitizen for voting in Virginia in the last 20 years, despite Gov. Youngkin’s Election Integrity Unit searching high and low,’ [Protect Democracy counsel Anna] Dorman said. ‘But if there was, this program wouldn’t stop it. Those people can still just sign an affidavit and vote. So the only people actually being hurt by this are eligible US voters who are confused about whether they’re allowed to vote.’…
“Because the state allows same-day voter registration, anyone affected can reinstate their registration before voting, either during the early voting period or on Election Day… However, they must cast those votes in person. If you’re one of the many folks who rely on absentee ballots, then your voting options in Virginia’s elections are nonexistent.”
Arianna Coghill, Mother Jones
The right supports the Court’s ruling, arguing that it allows Virginia to ensure non-citizens cannot vote.
The right supports the Court’s ruling, arguing that it allows Virginia to ensure non-citizens cannot vote.
“The Justice Department, in 2006, precleared the Virginia law that provides for election officials to remove ineligible voters from the rolls as part of ‘daily maintenance’ of registrations. That law was signed by Democratic Gov. Tim Kaine, who later became his party’s nominee for vice president and still is a U.S. senator. The only substantive distinction in Youngkin’s order is to specify that county registrars should now use DMV information to help them with that task…
“From a practical standpoint, what Youngkin is doing is preferable to the alternative. Under Youngkin’s rules, anybody who believes he is a valid voter can cast a provisional vote on Election Day, and if he is a legitimate voter, then the vote will count. If Youngkin’s rule is jettisoned, though, then the state or campaigns will need to challenge the illegal votes after the fact in court. Even if the state is right, there is no way to prove for whom the ballot was cast. There is no way to right the wrong.”
Editorial Board, Washington Examiner
“Virginia [argued], correctly in my view, that its program was not systematic because aliens were removed on a case-by-case basis, and this was done based on representations they’d individually made to state agencies. Moreover, aliens are not voters as that term should be understood in federal law — which makes it a crime for aliens [to vote]… Hence, the state’s program is not systematic, promotes election integrity in the Commonwealth, and reinforces — rather than violates — federal law.”
Andrew C. McCarthy, National Review
“Twenty-six Republican state attorneys general filed an amicus brief supporting Virginia. They argued that Justice’s definition of the federal voting law was too sweeping, and that Virginia’s effort is individual not systematic—because the people removed self-identified as noncitizens. They did this either by checking the noncitizen box on a Division of Motor Vehicles form or leaving the U.S. citizen box blank…
“The Supreme Court is one of the last well-functioning institutions in Washington. As Gov. Youngkin says, its order letting Virginia continue ensuring that only U.S. citizens can vote is a victory not only for the law but ‘common sense and election fairness.’”
Editorial Board, Wall Street Journal
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