RICHMOND, Va. — The U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit Friday against election officials in Virginia, accusing the state of removing names from voter rolls in violation of federal election law.
The lawsuit filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria says an executive order issued in August by Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin requiring daily updates to voter rolls to remove ineligible voters violates the law. federal law. The National Voter Registration Act requires a 90-day “quiet period” prior to the election for maintaining voter rolls.
“Congress adopted the National Voter Registration Act’s silent period restriction to prevent error-prone, eleventh-hour efforts that too often disenfranchise qualified voters,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney General Kristen Clarke. said in a statement. “The right to vote is the cornerstone of our democracy and the Department of Justice will continue to ensure that the rights of qualified voters are protected.”
A similar lawsuit was filed earlier this week by a coalition of immigrant rights groups and the League of Women Voters.
In its lawsuit, the Justice Department said the silent period provision reduces the risk that errors in registration lists will disenfranchise eligible voters by ensuring they have sufficient time to address errors before the election .
On August 7 – 90 days before the November 5 federal election – Youngkin’s order formalized a systemic process to remove people who “fail to verify that they are citizens” from the statewide voter registration list at the state Department of Motor Vehicles.
Election officials in Virginia use data from the Department of Motor Vehicles to determine a voter’s citizenship and eligibility, the filing said. The lawsuit alleges that DMV data may be inaccurate or outdated, but officials did not take additional steps to verify an individual’s alleged noncitizen status before sending them a notice revoking their voting eligibility.
In a statement Friday, Youngkin said state officials were properly enforcing the state law requiring the removal of noncitizens from voter rolls.
“Virginians – and Americans – will see this for exactly what it is: a desperate attempt to attack the legitimacy of elections in the Commonwealth, the crucible of American democracy,” Youngkin said of the Justice Department lawsuit.
“With the support of our Attorney General, we will defend these common sense steps, which we are legally obligated to take, with all the resources at our disposal. Virginia’s elections will be secure and fair, and I will not stand idly by while this politically motivated action seeks to disrupt our elections, period,” Youngkin said.
Across the country, conservatives have challenged the issue legitimacy of large numbers of voter registrations ahead of the November 5 elections. The Republican National Committee, revived under Trumphas also been involved in attempts to do so challenge electoral rolls before the November elections.