On Friday, the United States Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the state of Virginia, accusing election officials of removing certain voters from the voter list only a month before the election due to questioning their voting eligibility, which violates the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA).
The incident stems from Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin signing an executive order in early August, which required election officials to update the voter registration daily to promptly remove voters due to changes such as death, moving out of state, or losing voting eligibility to ensure the accuracy of the list.
These updates included comparing the list of non-citizens provided by the State Department of Motor Vehicles with the registered voter list. Registrars are required to notify the challenged voters to prove their citizenship within 14 days, otherwise, they will be put into a “pending cancellation” process.
The Department of Justice stated that this process resulted in some individuals having their voter registration canceled. Making significant changes to the list of names arbitrarily close to the election can lead to eligible voters being deprived of voting rights due to improper list maintenance.
“Compared to other forms of list maintenance, implementing systematic removal plans is more prone to errors. Placing eligible voters on a removal list days or weeks before election day may prevent them from voting or participating in the election under the same conditions. Without the Commonwealth’s error, they could have participated in the election,” the legal documents stated.
Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Kristen Clarke stated that there is a quiet period provision in the National Voter Registration Act designed to prevent officials from removing voters from the registration list because they may not meet certain basic eligibility requirements, such as citizenship.
Clarke expressed, “Virginia canceling voter registration 90 days before the election places eligible voters at risk of being removed from the list and creates the potential for confusion. The quiet period limitation in the National Voter Registration Act passed by Congress aims to prevent erroneous behavior close to elections that often lead to eligible voters losing their right to vote.”
In response, Governor Youngkin described the Department of Justice’s lawsuit as a relentless “attack.”
In a statement on Friday, he stated, “Virginia and Americans will see the true nature of this: it’s an all-out attempt to attack the legitimacy of Virginia’s elections. This is the cradle of American democracy.”
Youngkin added, “With the support of our Attorney General, we will vigorously defend the reasonable measures our laws require us to take. Virginia’s elections will remain secure and fair, I will not stand by and allow politically motivated actions to interfere with our elections, absolutely not.”
Previously, the Department of Justice also filed a similar lawsuit against the state of Alabama.