The Department of Justice It announced Friday that it is suing Virginia over its efforts to purge voter rolls within 90 days of the election, calling the state’s actions a violation of federal voting laws.
The lawsuit comes nearly two months after Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed an executive order requiring the state Department of Elections to make daily updates to its voting rolls, including comparing the list of identified “non-citizens” to the state’s existing list of registered voters.
Local officials must notify people on both lists that their voter registration will be canceled if they do not respond and confirm their citizenship within 14 days. it is so illegal for non-citizens to vote in federal elections.
According to the Department of Justice, some stateless persons have US citizenship, which has led to some voter registrations being canceled unnecessarily.
“The Union’s unlawful actions here likely confused, deterred, and alienated eligible US citizens to vote — a scenario Congress sought to prevent when it enacted the Quiet Period Clause,” the DOJ said in the lawsuit, purging voter rolls within 90 days of Election Day.
In a previous effort to purge voter rolls in Prince William County, Virginia, of noncitizens, 43 of the 162 noncitizens were U.S. citizens, according to the Justice Department.
In a statement, Youngkin called the lawsuit “politically motivated” and a “desperate attempt” to undermine the legitimacy of the election.
“Virginians — and Americans — will see this for exactly what it is: a desperate attempt to attack the legitimacy of elections in the Commonwealth, the very foundation of American democracy,” said Youngkin, an ally of former President Donald Trump.
Trump weighed in on the allegation on Friday by praising Youngkin and alleging that the Justice Department and Vice President Kamala Harris were trying to undermine democracy.
“We must protect the American voters and America’s Democracy!” Trump said this in a statement to Truth Social.
The Virginia Department of Elections, which is named in the lawsuit, declined to comment, saying it does not comment on pending litigation.
The state’s election commissioner did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday evening.
This is the second DOJ lawsuit against a state in the past month alleging violations of a provision of the National Voter Registration Act, which states that while states have the authority to purge voter rolls for a variety of reasons, they cannot carry out such close systematic deletions. to federal elections like them mainly affected they are often naturalized Americans.
DOJ sued the state of Alabama In September for alleged violations of the “Silence Clause.”
Virginia has voted Democratic in every presidential election since 2004. Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, recently visited the state. Explore the damage from Hurricane Helene With Youngkin.
Senator Tim Kaine, Hillary Clinton’s rival in the 2016 presidential election, is fighting the Republican Party candidate in the state Senate race. Hung Cao In a state that the nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates as a solidly Democratic race.
Virginia Immigrant Rights Coalition filed own claim On Monday, he alleged that the voter purge process against Youngkin was illegal, discriminatory and flawed.
Monica Sarmiento, the organization’s executive director, praised the DOJ lawsuit in a statement Friday, saying the order Youngkin signed “disenfranchised hundreds, if not thousands” of voters ahead of the election.
“The Virginia Immigrant Rights Coalition applauds the Department of Justice for challenging Virginia’s illegal citizenship cleansing program,” Sarmiento said.
Gary Grumbach and Jillian Frankel contributed.