On Friday, the Biden-Harris Justice Department filed a lawsuit alleging that it is against the law for Virginia to remove noncitizens and another unsuitable voters from its vote spins.
The Justice Department will maintain to ensure that the rights of eligible voters are protected, according to Kristen Clarke, the hyper-partisan mind of the company’s Civil Rights Division, in a dramatic statement.
The lawsuit is a reaction to Republican Governor’s attempts. To make sure only eligible U.S. citizens are listed on the state’s voter registration lists, Glenn Youngkin and the Virginia Department of Elections ( ELECT) work together.
In an , August professional order , directing state companies to conduct election security attempts ahead of the November vote, Youngkin revealed that ELECT had removed 6, 303 noncitizens from Virginia’s voting rolls from January 2022 to July 2024. Additionally, the order provided instructions on how to verify voting accuracy on state voter rolls.
The DOJ filed a lawsuit alleging that the country’s treatment of foreign nationals from its voter registration names was in violation of the” Quiet Period Provision” of the 1993 National Voter Registration Act. The petition has frequently been used to attack Republican-led election integrity efforts since Joe Biden became president. Any plan whose goal is to carefully remove the names of disqualified voters from the national lists of eligible voters must be completed by states no later than 90 days prior to the date of a main or general vote for Federal business.
The Justice Department claimed that the procedures laid out in Youngkin’s professional get constitute like a “program” in contravention of the NVRA’s Quiet Period Provision. Additionally, the organization claimed that this rule “applies to widespread programs intended to remove the names of unsuitable voters based on the failure to meet first eligibility requirements, including citizenship, at the registration process.”
The lawsuit states that” the Quiet Period Provision embodies Congress’s clear and considered judgment to restrict states from conducting systematic searches to remove ineligible voters ‘ names from the rolls in the final days before an election.” ” And for good reason: comprehensive treatment programs are more error-prone than other forms of record preservation, and eligible voters who are placed on the path to treatment days or weeks before Election Day may be deterred from voting or unable to participate in the election in the same ways that they would have done if it were due to the Commonwealth’s problem.”
” The Commonwealth’s unlawful actions here have likely confused, deterred, and removed U. S. citizens who are fully eligible to vote — the very scenario that Congress tried to prevent when it enacted the Quiet Period Provision”, it added.
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Youngkin noted in a Friday statement that the Biden-Harris administration is suing the United States for “appropriately enforcing a 2006 law signed by Democrat Tim Kaine that requires Virginia to remove noncitizens from the voter rolls — a process that begins with someone declaring themselves a non-citizen and then registering to vote.”
The governor said,” Virginians — and Americans — will see this for what it is: a desperate attempt to attack the legitimacy of the elections in the Commonwealth, the very crucible of American democracy.” With the assistance of our Attorney General, we will use every tool at our disposal to defend these logical actions that are legally required. 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”.
The DOJ has requested that Virginia’s and state election officials “halt” its efforts to ensure clean voter rolls until after the November election, and that the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia Alexandria Division declare the commonwealth to be in violation of the NVRA’s Quiet Period Provision. The organization also requested that Virginia be required to “restore to the voter rolls those U.S. citizens whose registration was canceled” as a result of Youngkin’s order, and to provide notice to “affected U.S. citizens that they have been restored to the voter rolls.”
Shawn Fleetwood is a University of Mary Washington graduate and a staff writer for The Federalist. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClear Health, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood