After a series of legal setbacks, a major victory for Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin on Wednesday, Oct. 30, days before the U.S. presidential election. The U.S. Supreme Court granted an emergency appeal to allow the state to resume the purge of more than 1,600 voter registrations.
As is tradition in emergency appeals, the high court gave no rationale for the ruling.
Youngkin said his executive order, which he issued in early August, stops noncitizens from voting. He called the Supreme Court’s decision “a victory for commonsense and election fairness.”
Voting rights advocates called the ruling “outrageous.” They said the governor’s order removes known eligible citizens from voter rolls days before the election.
A lawyer for the groups that sued the state alongside the U.S. Department of Justice said people can still register to vote on Election Day and cast ballots.
Previous rulings from lower courts struck down Virginia’s voter removal, finding it illegal to initiate mass voter registration purges 90 days before a federal election.
Youngkin’s now resumed executive order requires daily checks of Department of Motor Vehicles records to identify suspected noncitizens and remove them from voter rolls.