The United States Supreme Court ruled Wednesday morning that the State of Virginia may remove self-identified noncitizens from its voter rolls ahead of Tuesday’s election.
The 6-3 decision was issued by the justices without any explanation of their reasoning, as is common with these types of orders. Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented from the majority, indicating that they would have denied Virginia’s request, without any further elaboration on their position as well.
A federal judge had previously ruled that the state would need to put about 1,600 suspected noncitizens back on the rolls ahead of the upcoming election.
Wednesday’s Supreme Court ruling halts enforcement of the lower court’s order pending further legal action, meaning that the 1,600 previously removed voters will remain off the rolls going into Tuesday’s presidential election.
Because Virginia offers same-day voter registration, any eligible voters who may have been improperly removed from the rolls as a result of this effort will be able to rectify the situation on election day at their polling place and cast their ballots as planned.
Several civil rights organizations, backed by the Biden Administration, challenged the state, citing a clause of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) that prohibits states from systematically removing voters within 90 days of an election.
In response to this, Virginia officials argued that the process was “individualized” and conducted within the bounds of state and federal law.
Under the state’s program, voters were flagged for removal if they indicated to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) declaring they are not a citizen.
According to Virginia’s petition to the Supreme Court, about 600 of those removed personally informed the DMV they are not citizens, while around 1,000 presented “noncitizen residency documents” to the DMV before being “positively identified” as noncitizens through the United States Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database, which is said to be accurate about 99 percent of the time.
This program was first implemented in August of this year, and those flagged by the system as noncitizens had 14 days to prove their eligibility before being removed from the rolls.
The groups challenging this initiative — including the Virginia Coalition for Immigrant Rights, the League of Women Voters of Virginia, the League of Women Voters of Virignia Education Fund, and African Communities Together — argued that those identified by the process may have subsequently become citizens after indicating otherwise.
Last week, U.S. District Judge Patricia Giles ordered Virginia to halt this program and reinstate the roughly 1,600 individuals who had already been removed from the rolls.
Despite the state’s same-day registration provisions, challengers have argued that this would not provide a solution to those who planned to vote absentee in the upcoming election. They also suggested that it would cause confusion at polling places on election day, particularly if poll workers are unprepared to deal with this scenario.
Late Monday morning, attorneys general from all 26 Republican-led states filed an amicus brief in support of Virginia and its assertion that the program was conducted on an individualized basis.
The attorneys general also expressed support for Virginia’s argument that the NVRA protections are not applicable to noncitizens.
“We are pleased by the Supreme Court’s order today,” Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) said in a statement. “This is a victory for commonsense and election fairness.”
“I am grateful for the work of Attorney General Jason Miyares on this critical fight to protect the fundamental rights of U.S. citizens,” he continued.
“Clean voter rolls are one important part of a comprehensive approach we are taking to ensure the fairness of our elections,” Gov. Youngkin said. “Virginians also know that we have paper ballots, counting machines not connected to the internet, a strong chain of custody process, signature verification, monitored and secured drop boxes, and a ‘triple check’ vote counting process to tabulate results.”
“Virginians can cast their ballots on Election Day knowing that Virginia’s elections are fair, secure, and free from politically-motivated interference,” he concluded.
“To say this decision is a disappointment is an understatement,” said attorney Ryan Snow of Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, representing the plaintiffs. “The Supreme Court just ignored a key provision of the National Voter Registration Act and the clear fact that Virginia purged eligible voters on the eve of the election.”
“The Department brought this suit to ensure that every eligible American citizen can vote in our elections,” the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a statement to Fox News. “We disagree with the Supreme Court’s order.”
Because the Supreme Court Justices’ order Wednesday did not include any rational for their decision, it is not clear which of Virginia’s arguments were persuasive in convincing the Justices to grant the state’s request for a stay.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="32201 https://www.themainewire.com/?p=32201">6 Comments
5 days left to freedom
If Virginia voting laws are similar to ours then those who go to the polls and denied a ballot because they are not on the roll can cast a provisional ballot. Kind of a pain but that’s how it works
Republicans appear to oppose free and fair elections. They oppose any election when they don’t win – to the point that they attacked our Capitol on January 6, 2021.
One story you might want to take notice of is voter intimidation. It will happen and is happening. In Florida, on Tuesday an 18-year-old was arrested because he “brandished a machete in an aggressive, threatening posture over his head” at two women, ages 71 and 54. Williams was accompanied by seven other male teens, ages 16 and 17, who police said went to the Beaches Branch Library “to protest and antagonize the opposing political side.” The young men had been wielding flags bearing former President Donald Trump’s name during the incident, and the individuals they confronted were carrying signs in support of Vice President Harris and Minnesota Gov. Walz. There is so much that can be written about this but one I will mention is it is likely these kids didn’t fall far from the tree. Hopefully, I don’t have to explain that last line to you.
Election/ ballot laws and rules need to over hauled and nationalized so they are uniform. no surprises, results in 24 hours. this should be first order of business
Mike Grove The Democrates use the AG to play games, just look at Virgina
“ Laws similar to Ours “ ……
Ranked Choice Voting
National Popular Vote Compact
And state employees gleefully registering illegals aliens to vote .
WHAT ELSE can Maine do to F *@k things up !
Oh …..that’s right …Almost forgot ….Change our Flag to the stupid pine tree commie star rag .
If the “ lower court’s “ ruling was left to stand , and the state of Virginia had been forced to put the 1600 illegals back on the voter rolls , it would have been the LAST STRAW .
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are the WORST V & VP in our entire history .
He has the nerve to call me garbage .
Fuck him.
I’m voting for Trump .
Google “ Lockland Ohio “ .
This is what awaits YOUR hometown .