Virginia has appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court after a ruling by a judge appointed by President Biden required the state to reinstate non-citizens on its voter rolls shortly before the 2024 election. Last week, U.S. District Judge Patricia Giles issued an order upheld by a federal appeals court, leading Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin and Attorney General Jason Miyares to take the matter to the Supreme Court. Youngkin’s attorneys argued to the appeals court that the lower court’s injunction against removing non-citizens from the rolls was legally flawed and too disruptive close to the election, according to POLITICO.
The appeals court unanimously ruled that Virginia’s method of removing non-citizens from voter rolls during a 90-day “quiet period” before the election—based on data from the Department of Motor Vehicles—likely conflicts with the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. The judges noted that Virginia could still prevent non-citizens from voting by canceling registrations individually or prosecuting those who vote illegally.
In a 2012 case, however, federal courts in Florida interpreted the 90-day deadline in the same Act to apply only to removals based on residency changes, not citizenship status.
In August, Youngkin issued an executive order for officials to review voter roll data daily against DMV records, resulting in the removal of about 1,600 non-citizens from Virginia’s rolls.
“It’s commonsense: noncitizens shouldn’t be on our voter rolls. Thank you @JasonMiyaresVA for filing immediately with the U.S. Supreme Court for an emergency appeal of the order for Virginia to put over 1,500 people who self-identified as non-citizens back on the voter rolls,” Youngkin posted on X on Sunday.
It’s commonsense: noncitizens shouldn’t be on our voter rolls. Thank you @JasonMiyaresVA for filing immediately with the U.S. Supreme Court for an emergency appeal of the order for Virginia to put over 1,500 people who self-identified as non-citizens back on the voter rolls. https://t.co/rY4ymZduqq
— Glenn Youngkin (@GlennYoungkin) October 27, 2024
The Republican governor noted last week that a Virginia law passed in 2006, signed by then-Governor Tim Kaine, a Democrat, “requires specific procedures to remove non-citizens from voter rolls, with safeguards to confirm citizenship before removal—and a backup option 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,” Youngkin added.
Youngkin’s voter roll removal efforts faced a challenge from the Biden-Harris administration’s Justice Department and several private organizations, according to the Associated Press. The DOJ argued that the 90-day “quiet period” before an election is intended to prevent legitimate voters from being mistakenly removed due to bureaucratic errors.
After Judge Giles issued her order against Virginia last week, former President Donald Trump spoke out in support of Youngkin’s efforts to clean up the voter rolls.
“Sleepy Joe Biden and Comrade Kamala Harris ridiculously accuse me of wanting to ‘weaponize’ the Justice Department, when they have done all of the weaponizing. Now, their truly Weaponized Department of ‘Injustice,’ and a Judge (appointed by Joe), have ORDERED the Great Commonwealth of Virginia to PUT NON-CITIZEN VOTERS BACK ON THE ROLLS,” he wrote. “This is a totally unacceptable travesty, and Governor Youngkin is absolutely right to appeal this ILLEGAL ORDER, and the U.S. Supreme Court will hopefully fix it! Only U.S. Citizens should be allowed to vote. Keep fighting, Glenn – AND REPUBLICANS IN VIRGINIA, KEEP VOTING EARLY! I will be calling in to Glenn’s Rally with Lara Trump tomorrow morning to talk about this crazy Ruling, and announce my final stop in Virginia before Election Day. TUNE IN!”
