NEW: DOJ Sues Virginia For Purging Noncitizen Voters From State Logs

The U.S. Department of Justice is suing the Commonwealth of Virginia, accusing them of removing voters from rolls too close to Election Day. Virginia has worked to remove noncitizens and residents who have failed to confirm their residency after Governor Glenn Youngkin signed an executive order aimed at election integrity earlier this year.

The complaint alleges that the state Board of Elections and Virginia Commissioner of Elections Susan Beals violated the federal National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), which mandates that states must complete voter roll maintenance no later than 90 days before an election under a clause known as the Quiet Period Provision.

The agency is accusing Governor Youngkin of violating the NVRA by requiring the state’s election commissioner to regularly update the state’s voter logs to remove individuals who have been “identified as noncitizens,” or have failed to respond to requests to verify citizenship within 14 days.

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As a result of Youngkin’s executive order, the state has removed 6,303 individuals from voter logs. “The Executive Order formalized the Program and announced that 6,303 individuals had been removed from the rolls pursuant to the same process between January 2022 and July 2024,” the complaint says.

The complaint notes that voters were removed if they answered “no” to questions concerning their citizenship on certain forms submitted to the state Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). “This systematic voter removal program, which the State is conducting within 90 days of the upcoming federal election, violates the Quiet Period Provision,” the DOJ said.

Governor Youngkin rejected the DOJ’s characterization of his executive order in an X post. “With less than 30 days until the election, the Biden-Harris Department of Justice is filing an unprecedented lawsuit against me and the Commonwealth of Virginia, for appropriately enforcing a 2006 law to remove noncitizens from the voter rolls,” he wrote.

“Virginians – and Americans – will see this for exactly what it is: a desperate attempt to attack the legitimacy of the elections in the Commonwealth, the very crucible of American Democracy.”

Youngkin went on to reaffirm his commitment to election integrity and promised that the commonwealth’s elections would be “secure and fair.”

“With the support of our Attorney General, we will defend these commonsense steps, that we are legally required to take, with every resource available to us,” he said. “Virginia’s election will be secure and fair, and I will not stand idly by as this politically motivated action tries to interfere in our elections, period.”

The Biden-Harris DOJ’s lawsuit against Virginia comes after the department filed a similar lawsuit against Alabama and its Republican Secretary of State Wes Allen over the state’s efforts to remove noncitizen voters. In that case, the DOJ is seeking injunctive relief that “would restore the ability of impacted eligible voters to vote unimpeded on Election Day,” and “would prohibit future quiet period violations,” the DOJ said in a statement.

“The department also seeks remedial mailings to educate eligible voters concerning the restoration of their rights and adequate training of local officials and poll workers to address confusion and distrust among eligible voters accused of being noncitizens,” the agency said.