DOJ Sues Virginia for Purging Voter Rolls Close to Election

Voters work on their ballots at a polling station at the Elena Bozeman Government Center in Arlington, Va., on Sept. 20, 2024. AFP via Getty Images

The Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit against Virginia on Oct. 11, alleging that the state violated federal law by removing potential noncitizen voters from the rolls too close to the general election.

In a court filing, the DOJ alleged that Virginia’s voter removal program violated the “Quiet Period Provision” in the National Voter Registration Act, which requires that states complete their programs for removing ineligible voters from active rolls no later than 90 days before an election.

“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,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke said in a statement.

The complaint, filed on Oct. 11, also named the state Board of Elections and Virginia Commissioner of Elections Susan Beals as defendants.

According to the complaint, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed an executive order in August requiring the commissioner to certify that daily updates to the state’s voter lists were being conducted.

These updates involved comparing the list of individuals identified as noncitizens by the State Department of Motor Vehicles “to the list of existing registered voters,” the DOJ stated.

Local registrars were then required to notify those voters that they needed to affirm their citizenship within 14 days or they would be removed from the list of registered voters, according to the Justice Department.

The DOJ said the process has resulted in U.S. citizens having their voter registrations canceled. The state removed 6,303 individuals from the rolls between January 2022 and July 2024, according to the complaint.

It further alleged that local registrars had no discretion to prevent the cancellation of voters who fail to return “an affirmation of citizenship” even if they have reason to believe that those voters are U.S. citizens.

“This systematic voter removal program, which the State is conducting within 90 days of the upcoming federal election, violates the Quiet Period Provision,” the DOJ said in a statement.

Youngkin criticized the Biden administration for filing the lawsuit with less than 30 days before the election and said that he had “appropriately” enforced the law.

The Republican governor called the DOJ’s lawsuit “unprecedented” and said it was a “politically motivated” attempt to interfere with the state election, according to a statement issued by his office on Oct. 11.

“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,” Youngkin stated.

“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.”

The DOJ filed a similar lawsuit against the state of Alabama and its Secretary of State on Sept. 27 over the state’s program that was aimed at removing ineligible voters, including noncitizens, from active rolls. It stated that Alabama announced the launch of the voter roll purge program 84 days before the Nov. 5 general election, which violated the National Voter Registration Act.