US sues Virginia over alleged violation of federal election law

The U.S. Department of Justice said Friday that it had sued the state of Virginia for violating the federal prohibition on systematic efforts to remove voters within 90 days of an election.

On August 7, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin signed an executive order requiring the commissioner of the Department of Elections to certify that the department was conducting “daily updates to the voter list” to remove, among other groups, people who are unable to verify that they are citizens to the Department of Motor Vehicles.

U.S. citizens who were identified and notified and did not affirm their citizenship within 14 days would be removed from the list of registered voters, the Justice Department said. It said this practice has led to citizens having their voter registrations canceled ahead of the November 5 election.

“By canceling voter registrations within 90 days of Election Day, Virginia places qualified voters in jeopardy of being removed from the rolls and creates the risk of confusion for the electorate,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke.

“Congress adopted the National Voter Registration Act’s quiet period restriction to prevent error-prone, eleventh-hour efforts that all too often disenfranchise qualified voters,” Clarke added.

The department said it was seeking injunctive relief that would restore the ability of affected eligible voters to cast their votes unimpeded on Election Day and would prohibit future violations.

Youngkin called the move politically motivated and an attempt to interfere in the election.

“With the support of our attorney general, we will defend these common sense steps that we are legally required to take with every resource available to us,” he said in a statement on Friday.

Republicans across the U.S. have pushed against noncitizen voting, which is already illegal, ahead of the November election. Some election officials have warned that the move could penalize eligible voters.