DOJ sues Virginia for removing 'non-citizens' from voter rolls

The Department of Justice (DOJ) officially sued the state of Virginia for allegedly "purging" its voter rolls ahead of the presidential election in November. The state's governor, Glenn Youngkin, assured that they simply removed "non-citizens" from the rolls and criticized the Biden-Harris administration.

According to the court filing by Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division, who claimed state officials violated the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA) by questioning voter eligibility so close to the November election.

"As the National Voter Registration Act mandates, officials across the country should take heed of the law’s crystal clear and unequivocal restrictions on systematic list maintenance efforts that fall within 90 days of an election," she said.

"By canceling voter registrations within 90 days of Election Day, Virginia places qualified voters in jeopardy of being removed from the rolls and creates the risk of confusion for the electorate. Congress adopted the National Voter Registration Act’s quiet period restriction to prevent error-prone, eleventh hour efforts that all too often disenfranchise qualified voters," Clarke added.

Youngkin's response: "A desperate attempt to attack the legitimacy of elections"

In early August, Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed an executive order to update the voter list daily to search for irregularities, in this case, "non-citizens."

The search compared "the list of persons who have been identified as non-citizens" by the State Department of Motor Vehicles "with the list of existing registered voters." Local registrars subsequently contacted voters in doubt to inform them that they were "pending cancellation" unless they "affirmed their citizenship" within 14 days.

Youngkin spoke out both on social media and through a statement, asserting that the lawsuit is a "desperate attempt to attack the legitimacy of the election" by the Biden-Harris administration.

"With less than 30 days until the election, the Biden-Harris Department of Justice is filing an unprecedented lawsuit against me and the Commonwealth of Virginia, for appropriately enforcing a 2006 law signed by Democrat Tim Kaine that requires Virginia to remove noncitizens from the voter rolls - a process that starts with someone declaring themselves a non-citizen and then registering to vote. Virginians - and Americans - will see this for exactly what it is: a desperate attempt to attack the legitimacy of the elections in the Commonwealth, the very crucible of American Democracy," the governor wrote in the statement.

"With the support of our Attorney General, we will defend these commonsense steps, that we are legally required to take, with every resource available to us. Virginia’s election will be secure and fair, and I will not stand idly by as this politically motivated action tries to interfere in our elections, period," he stated.