The Virginia Department of Elections can continue to keep an estimated 1,600 people off of the state’s voter registration rolls and continue a daily update to purge people who did not adequately demonstrate they were United States citizens.
This morning, six Justices of the nine-member United States Supreme Court agreed to a request from Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares to block an order issued by a federal judge Friday.
On Friday, Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles gave the Virginia Department of Elections a deadline of this afternoon to restore anyone who had been removed from the voter rolls since August 7 unless they had made a request, have died, or are ineligible to vote due to criminal activity or mental incapacity.
Governor Glenn Youngkin put that program in place on August 7 with Executive Order #35. A daily check was to be conducted every day and two of the directives were part of an effort to remove anyone suspected of being a non-citizen.
“Remove individuals who are unable to verify that they are citizens to the Department of Motor Vehicles from the statewide voter registration list, should that individual either intentionally or unintentionally attempt to register to vote,” reads item E.
“The Department of Elections compares the list of individuals who have been identified as non-citizens to the list of existing registered voters and then registrars notify any matches of their pending cancellation unless they affirm their citizenship within 14 days,” reads item F.
A coalition of groups including the Virginia Coalition of Immigrant Rights filed a lawsuit in October arguing that the campaign was in violation of federal law. On Friday, Judge Giles agreed and issued her directive. Miyares appealed to the Fourth Circuit of Appeals and a three-judge panel sided with the lower court.
On Monday, Miyares asked Chief Justice John Roberts to overturn the ruling. Word came out this morning just hours before the Department of Elections would have to comply.
“The application for stay presented to The Chief Justice and by him referred to the Court is granted,” reads the order.
That means the U.S. Court of Appeals will fully consider the case but not in time for the election. This potentially clears the way for other states to institute similar voter registration purges.
The petition was made to the emergency docket of the U.S. Supreme Court and decisions are terse. The two paragraph order notes that Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Justice Elena Kagan, and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson would have denied the application.
Governor Youngkin thanked Miyares for his work.
“Clean voter rolls are one important part of a comprehensive approach we are taking to ensure the fairness of our elections,” Youngkin said in a statement. “Virginians also know that we have paper ballots, counting machines not connected to the internet, a strong chain of custody process, signature verification, monitored and secured drop boxes, and a ‘triple check’ vote counting process to tabulate results. Virginians can cast their ballots on Election Day knowing that Virginia’s elections are fair, secure, and free from politically-motivated interference.”
There are several media reports about how the project has removed U.S. citizens from the voter registration list.
In two other rulings from the emergency docket on Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court ended a request from former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy to remove his name from ballots in Michigan and Wisconsin. (Michigan ruling) (Wisconsin ruling)
Resources for further information:
- Full coverage on Scotus Blog
- U.S. Supreme Court docket search for this item
- Coalition files suit in federal court alleging unlawful purge of Virginia voter rolls, Information Charlottesville, October 10, 2024
- Virginia takes voter purge case to the U.S. Supreme Court, Information Charlottesville, October 28, 2024
- Lifelong Virginian among 1,600 voters to have registration canceled, NBC Washington, October 29, 2024
- The Supreme Court Just Carved an Outrageous Loophole Into a Major Voting Rights Law, Mark Joseph Stern, Slate, October 30, 2024
- U.S. citizens are among the voters removed in Virginia’s controversial purge, NPR, Jude Joffe-Block, October 30, 2024
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