GOP drive to revive Virginia voter purge strikes out at appeals court

A bid by Republican officials in Virginia to purge of potential non-citizens from the voter rolls there appears headed for the Supreme Court after a federal appeals court refused to disturb a lower court order that halted the effort and ordered some recently-removed voters restored.

In an unusual Sunday ruling, a unanimous panel of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals largely rebuffed arguments from lawyers for Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin that an injunction the Justice Department and civil rights groups obtained against the program from a lower-court judge Friday was legally flawed and would be too disruptive to administer in the just over a week remaining before Election Day.

Youngkin’s attorneys argued that a ban in federal law on systematic programs to remove voters in the 90 days before a federal election does not apply to efforts aimed at removing non-citizens, but the appeals court forcefully rejected that as an “argument that violates basic principles of statutory construction.”

The three-judge panel’s order stressed that Virginia officials “remain able to prevent noncitizens from voting by canceling registrations on an individualized basis or prosecuting any noncitizen who votes,” but said a system Virginia uses to match citizenship data from the Department of Motor Vehicles with voter rolls appears to violate the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 when implemented during the so-called “quiet period” before elections.




https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2024/10/27/2024-elections-live-coverage-updates-analysis/virginia-voter-purge-still-on-hold-00185734