Supreme Court allows Virginia to purge voter rolls ahead of election

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed Republican officials in Virginia to revive a plan aimed at removing non-citizen voters from the rolls ahead of next week’s election.

The justices blocked a federal judge’s order that put the program on hold and required the state to restore 1,600 voters to the rolls.

The brief ruling noted that the three liberal justices on the court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, all dissented.

“This is a victory for common sense and electoral justice,” Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican who announced the plan in August, said in a statement.

“Virgins can cast their ballots on Election Day knowing that Virginia’s elections are fair, secure and free from politically motivated interference,” he added.

Virginia has same day voter registrationmeaning that any eligible voter who was removed from the rolls should still be able to vote.

Civil rights groups, backed by the Biden administration, challenged the plan, saying it had led to some legal voters being removed from rolls as well. The Justice Department said that while states can review their voter rolls, they cannot do so right before an election.

States are barred from systematically removing people from voter rolls within 90 days of an election under the National Voter Registration Act.

“Everyone agrees that states can and should remove ineligible voters, including noncitizens, from their voter rolls. The only question in this case is when and how they can do so,” Attorney General Elizabeth Prelogar wrote in court papers filed by the Biden administration.

The state’s plan marked people for removal if they check a box on a Department of Motor Vehicles form declaring they are not a citizen or if they leave it blank.

Groups that sued, including the Virginia Coalition for Immigrant Rights, said the process drew in people who might have indicated they were not citizens at the time but have subsequently become U.S. citizens. Civil rights groups and the Biden administration both presented evidence of US citizens likely to have been removed from the list as a result.

In court papers, the groups said “the record makes it clear that citizens are being removed from voter rolls.” These are voters that the 90-day period is “designed to protect,” they added.

Last week, U.S. District Judge Patricia Giles ordered the state to end its program and restore the voter registrations of more than 1,600 people removed in recent months.

The Virginia plan reflects broader, unproven Republican talking points, reinforced by former President Donald Trump, that voting by non-citizen voters is widespread.

This narrative could be used as a basis for challenging the election results if Trump loses on Election Day.

Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, a Republican who made his name as an anti-immigration hardliner, filed a brief in support of Virginia, which was joined by 25 other Republican attorneys general.