Alexandria, Virginia—The Virginia Coalition for Immigrant Rights (VACIR) and the League of Women Voters Virginia have filed a lawsuit against the Youngkin Administration for purging voters illegally. They are calling on the courts to restore the voter registrations of those who have been purged from the voting rolls so that they can legally make their voices heard in our elections. 

 

“Naturalized citizens serve in our armed forces, pay taxes, and show their patriotism daily with their acts and contributions to our society. This attack against the voting rights of naturalized citizens is a vicious attack against our democracy,” Monica Sarmiento, Executive Director of the Virginia Coalition for Immigrant Rights, said. “Forcing new American communities to to carry undue burden that no other community is required to comply with is discrimination, and does not stand for the values that our Commonwealth and country stands for. We demand the immediate dissolution of Executive Order 35, and for Governor Youngkin to stand in support and comply with the 1993 National Voting Rights Act.”

 

Newly Filed Lawsuit Accuses Youngkin of Removing Voters from Rolls with Executive Order

WSET, Robert Locklear 

 

On October 7,the Virginia Coalition for Immigrant Rights and the League of Women Voters of Virginia filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging ” the state’s policy of illegally and systematically removing voters from the rolls.” 

“Virginia driver’s licenses are available to non-citizens and can remain valid for up to eight years, meaning people who obtained driver’s licenses as non-citizens, subsequently became US citizens, and lawfully registered to vote are being unlawfully purged from the voter rolls based on outdated DMV information,” the statement says.

“We are proud to stand up for voters today against the Governor’s illegal purging of registered voters based on flawed and outdated information,” said Joan Porte, president of the League of Women Voters of Virginia. “Instead of making our elections safer, power-hungry elected officials are sowing fear and distrust in our election. Virginians need to know that the League will ensure that all eligible voters can have their voice heard at the ballot box.”

Lawsuit Says Virginia is Illegally Purging Legitimate Voters Off the Rolls NBC Washington Matthew Barakat 

The lawsuit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, argues that an executive order issued in August by Youngkin requiring daily updates to voter lists to remove ineligible voters violates a federal law that requires a 90-day “quiet period” ahead of elections on the maintenance of voter rolls.The quiet period exists to prevent erroneous removals, the lawsuit states.

“Defendants’ Purge Program is far from … a well-designed, well-intended list maintenance effort. It is an illegal, discriminatory, and error-ridden program that has directed the cancelation of voter registrations of naturalized U.S. citizens and jeopardizes the rights of countless others,” the lawsuit states.

Immigrant citizens are at particular risk, the lawsuit states, because individuals can obtain a driver’s license as lawful permanent residents, refugees or asylum applicants, and then later become naturalized citizens. But the data from the Department of Motor Vehicles will still list that individual as a noncitizen.

It’s not clear how many voters have been removed as a result of the executive order. The lawsuit alleges that the Virginia Department of Elections has refused to provide data about its efforts. Youngkin’s executive order states that Virginia removed 6,303 voters from the rolls between January 2022 and July 2023 over citizenship questions.

According to the minutes, the elections office received data about 66 voters who were deemed likely noncitizens. The data came from both the state elections office and from an “Election Integrity Task Force” affiliated with the Fairfax County Republican Committee. The county registrar said that the elections office sent notices to all 66, and gave them 14 days to verify their citizenship and eligibility. Of those, 17 responded and were kept on the rolls. The other 49 were removed, and had their names forwarded to the commonwealth’s attorney and the Virginia attorney general’s office for potential prosecution.

The lawsuit says the Fairfax removals, as well as other local actions, show that legitimate voters are being improperly removed if they don’t respond within the 14-day window provided to them.

Orion Danjuma, a lawyer with The Protect Democracy Project, one of the legal groups that filed the lawsuit on the plaintiffs’ behalf, said what’s occurring in Virginia is part of a national effort by supporters of former President Donald Trump to sow doubts about election integrity and delegitimize the results if Trump loses in November.

The lawsuit asks a judge to bar the state from removing voters under what it describes as the state’s “purge program,” and restoration to the voter rolls of those who have been removed as a result of it.