A federal judge granted the permit on Friday Ministry of Justice A request to prevent Virginia’s alleged non-citizens from being systematically removed from the voter rolls so close to the election.
U.S. District Judge Patricia Giles ordered the state to immediately suspend the program and within five days to restore the voter registrations of more than 1,600 people who had been removed in recent months.
The decision is made 10 days before the voting day early votingthe work that started in the state last month is ongoing.
Virginia’s program “restricted the right of eligible voters to vote in the same way as other eligible voters,” Giles said in announcing his decision.
Ryan Snow, an attorney with the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, which represents the civil rights groups suing the state, called the decision a “huge victory.”
“All voters who have been wrongfully removed from the voter rolls will now be able to vote,” Snow said. “No one should interfere with a citizen’s right to vote.”
Attorneys who obtained the full list of people slated to be purged from voter rolls said 18 American citizens were mistakenly removed, a lawyer for civil rights groups said in court Thursday. The Justice Department said in an earlier filing that 43 people removed from Prince William County were U.S. citizens.
“How many more are there?” Judge Giles asked rhetorically on Friday.
Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin continued his defiance in a statement reacting to the judge’s ruling: “Virginia will immediately appeal to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals and, if necessary, the US Supreme Court to stay the decision.”
Youngkin signed an executive order in early August mandated voter lists are cleared of non-citizens. Under the program, people are flagged for removal if they check the non-citizen box or leave that section blank on a Department of Motor Vehicles form.
The groups filing the lawsuit say the program catches people who obtained driver’s licenses as green card holders and later became citizens, as well as those who simply filled out the form incorrectly.
Under the National Voter Registration Act, states are prohibited from systematically removing people from voter rolls within 90 days of an election. A Justice Department attorney said in court Thursday that Virginia’s program could be legal at any time of the year, but not during this “quiet period” before an election.
Virginia attorney general Charles Cooper defended the program in court Thursday, saying, “Hundreds of noncitizens will return to this list… Every time a noncitizen votes, he cancels the legal vote. vote.”
Michael Kosnar and Gary Grumbach contributed.