A federal judge ruled on Friday, Oct. 25, Virginia must restore more than 1,600 voter registrations she says were illegally removed in an effort to stop noncitizens from voting. Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles’ order overturns an executive order by Gov. Glenn Youngkin, R, in August that purged suspected noncitizens from voter rolls through daily Department of Motor Vehicles records checks by state officials.
Giles says that letters will now be sent out within five days that tell voters of their re-established rights and include warnings that noncitizens are barred from voting under federal law.
Giles sided with the Biden administration and other groups who filed the lawsuit, ruling that Virginia broke federal law, which bars systemic removal of voters from rolls 90 days prior to a federal election. She said that removal of voters must only be done on an individual basis so close to Election Day.
Virginia officials had argued that they followed careful procedures, targeting people who clearly identified themselves as noncitizens through DMV records.
However, the plaintiffs contended that many people were wrongly accused of being noncitizens by the DMV by checking the wrong box on the form. They did not provide a comprehensive number of cases but gave more than a dozen anecdotal instances of the mistake happening.
Gov. Youngkin responded to Giles’ order in a statement, saying, “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 voter rolls.”
Virginia state officials say they will appeal the ruling.
