Federal judge orders Virginia to halt voter removal program, put people back on voter rolls

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (WRIC) – A federal judge has ordered Virginia to put more than 1,600 people back on the state's voter rolls after they were recently removed under a state program that the Justice Department and advocates say illegally took them off too close to the election. Lawsuits from the Justice Department and advocacy groups allege that part of an executive order from Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin systematically removes alleged noncitizens from the rolls too soon to the Nov. 5 presidential election in violation of federal law. The law -- the National Voter Registration Act -- requires Virginia and other states to stop systematically removing the names of ineligible voters from the rolls within 90 days of the election, known as a “quiet period,” to avoid errors that could take eligible voters off the rolls. Advocacy groups that sued -- the Virginia Coalition for Immigrant Rights, the League of Women Voters of Virginia and others – said that data shared by the state for the case shows more than 1,600 people had their voter registrations canceled under the program during the quiet period. READ MORE: Voting rights groups reporting cases of eligible voters wrongly removed from Virginia rolls U.S. District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles, who was nominated to the court by President Joe Biden (D), found Virginia's system was systematic, not on an individual basis as Youngkin's administration has contended, and ordered Virginia to reinstate those removed during the 90-day quiet period to the voter rolls. Aaron Baird, a spokesperson for Protect Democracy, a legal group representing the groups, wrote in an email that Giles "ordered that purged voters be added back to the rolls and that the state must send corrective mailings to those voters." Gov. Youngkin’s office has argued his Aug. 7 order requiring daily updates to voter lists to remove ineligible voters – which came 90 days before the Nov. 5 election – doesn’t violate the law and enforces a 2006 state law signed by Virginia’s then-Democratic Gov. Tim Kaine. "Let’s be clear about what just happened: only eleven days before a Presidential election, a federal judge ordered Virginia to reinstate over 1,500 individuals–who self-identified themselves as noncitizens–back onto the voter rolls," Youngkin said in a statement. "Almost all these individuals had previously presented immigration documents confirming their noncitizen status, a fact recently verified by federal authorities." Youngkin added that "Virginia will immediately petition the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals and, if necessary, the U.S. Supreme Court, for an emergency stay of the injunction." Youngkin’s office outlines defense against DOJ lawsuit claiming Virginia illegally purged voter rolls Ryan Snow, counsel with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, another legal group representing the advocacy groups, hailed Friday’s ruling as “a big victory.” “All of the eligible voters who were wrongfully purged from the voter rolls will now be able to cast their ballots. No one should mess with a citizen's right to vote,” Snow said in a statement. “The judge stopped the outrageous mass purge of eligible voters in Virginia.”  The advocacy groups said that eligible voters were incorrectly removed under the program, submitting court filings that contend that at least three citizens had their registrations canceled. Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares (R) accused the Justice Department of pulling a “shameful, politically motivated stunt” ahead of Election Day. "It should never be illegal to remove an illegal voter," Miyares said in a statement. "Yet, today a Court – urged by the Biden-Harris Department of Justice – ordered Virginia to put the names of non-citizens back on the voter rolls, mere days before a presidential election. Both lawsuits claim that Virginia’s program to remove ineligible voters is error-ridden because it uses data from the Department of Motor Vehicles that can be “faulty and outdated.” READ MORE: Justice Department says judge can order Virginia to restore eligible voters without oral arguments in purge case Under the order, the lawsuits say the DMV sends the state’s elections department a daily list of Virginians who answered “no” to a citizenship question on paperwork or have legal presence documents indicating non-citizenship status. Youngkin’s executive order notes that local registrars notify those identified as noncitizens of their pending registration cancellation unless they confirm their citizenship within 14 days. Data from a few registrars obtained by 8News shows that eligible voters were removed from the rolls. The governor has previously questioned the DOJ’s motivation to sue over the program, and his office has repeatedly noted that alleged noncitizens had to voluntarily identify as noncitizens and had 14 days to confirm with their local registrar. In a memo, Youngkin’s administration called the DOJ’s lawsuit “unprecedented” and defended the s