Supreme Court Upholds Virginia’s Right to Remove Non-Citizens From Its Voter Rolls
On Monday, Virginia election officials requested that the Supreme Court overturn a federal judge's decision that would prevent them from restarting a program that the Republican governor of the state implemented in August with the goal of expunging suspected noncitizens from the state's voter records.
Virginia's bid to restore a mechanism it had been using since August to remove over 1,600 individuals from its voter registers was approved by the justices on Wednesday morning (October 30, 2024) in a 6-3 decision.
Governor of Virginia Glenn Youngkin issued an executive order on August 7th, directing state election workers to use data from the state's department of motor vehicles as quickly as possible to identify and delete the voter registration of suspected noncitizens unless they could provide proof of citizenship within 14 days.
On October 11, the Biden administration challenged the voter-purge campaign in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, joined by civic and immigrant rights organizations. The National Voter Registration Act, a 1993 statute that usually prohibits states from "systematically" eliminating illegal voters within ninety days of a federal election, was allegedly broken.
U.S. District Court Judge Patricia Giles, a nominee of President Joe Biden, prohibited the state from "continuing any systematic program intended to remove the names of ineligible voters from registration lists less than 90 days before the November 5, 2024, federal General Election" in a preliminary injunction issued on October 25. However, she did not rule out the possibility that the state could still remove certain voters on an individual basis, such as those who have passed away or have criminal convictions. Additionally, she directed the state to reinstate voter registration for those voters it had eliminated from the lists as part of the initiative.
The state requested that the 4th Circuit halt Giles' order. The motion was rejected on Sunday by a three-judge panel consisting of two Obama appointees and one Biden appointment. The panel stated that it was "unpersuaded" that Virginia's program complied with the NVRA. Then, on Monday morning, Virginia petitioned the justices to postpone Giles' order until Tuesday.
Giles' order is based on "a misreading of the NVRA (National Voter Registration Act)," according to state solicitor general Erika Maley, who told the court that the law's "quiet period" clause does not forbid the removal of noncitizens who were never "qualified" to vote in the first place. "States may delete noncitizens, minors, and fake persons in a systematic manner at any time, even within ninety days of an election, without violating the NVRA."
Its program, however, would not be illegal because it is based on an "individualized process" that "begins with a personal attestation of noncitizenship" on forms filed with the Virginia DMV and "ends in the removal of that person from the voter rolls only when he is sent two individualized letters offering opportunities" to correct any mistakes regarding citizenship status, Maley added, even if the "quiet period" provision did forbid a "systematic" program that removed noncitizens.
Maley argued that if Giles' order is allowed to stay in place, it will irreparably harm the state and the public because it will make it impossible for the state to enforce its election laws and because it may allow noncitizens to vote in the next election. Maley countered that on election day, any American citizen who has been mistakenly removed from the rolls is still eligible to cast a provisional ballot.
In a brief one-page ruling, the three liberal judges of the Supreme Court declared their dissension from the case. None of the dissenters or the court's majority provided specific justifications.
"As part of a comprehensive approach we are taking to safeguard the fairness of our elections, clean voter rolls are a crucial component," Youngkin stated. "On election day, Virginians can cast their ballots with confidence that the state's elections are free from politically motivated meddling, fair, and secure."
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