The US Supreme Court on Wednesday overturned a lower court’s decision, allowing the state of Virginia to remove approximately 1,600 individuals from voter rolls ahead of the November 5 elections. State officials identified these individuals as non-citizens, despite concerns from the Biden administration and voting rights advocates that legitimate citizens were affected.
The justices overruled an October 25 judicial order that had required Virginia to reinstate these voters. Non-citizen voting in US federal elections is prohibited. Virginia’s Republican governor Glenn Youngkin had implemented a new protocol on August 7 for removing individuals from Virginia’s voter lists who couldn’t confirm their citizenship status, establishing daily data exchanges between state agencies.
The conservative-majority top court made this decision with the three liberal justices opposing it.
Youngkin praised the court’s decision, calling it a “victory for commonsense and election fairness” in what he termed a “critical fight to protect the fundamental rights of US citizens,” as per Reuters report.
US District Judge Patricia Giles had previously determined that Virginia’s voter list maintenance program violated federal law by occurring too near the election.
Immigration has become a significant electoral issue, particularly as Donald Trump faces Kamala Harris in next week’s election. While Virginia isn’t considered a battleground state, with Harris leading in polls, the legal disputes over voter list purges in Virginia and Alabama have gained attention.
Youngkin’s August policy announcement outlined plans to remove deceased individuals, those who had relocated, and non-citizens who had registered either accidentally or intentionally.
The state’s previous system for removing non-citizens was modified under Youngkin’s executive order, increasing agency data sharing from monthly to daily and maintaining the process close to the election.
Voting rights organisations, including the League of Women Voters of Virginia, filed a lawsuit on October 7, noting that at least 18 US citizens were incorrectly removed. The Justice Department filed a similar challenge shortly after.
The challengers cited violations of the 1993 National Voter Registration Act, specifically its “quiet period provision” preventing systematic voter removals within 90 days of an election.
Virginia’s Supreme Court filing indicated that of the approximately 1,600 removed voters, 600 had stated they weren’t citizens at the DMV, while 1,000 were identified as non-citizens through federal database verification.
The state implemented a notification system giving individuals 14 days to confirm their citizenship before removal from voter rolls.
Judge Giles had blocked the policy on October 25 and ordered reinstatement of the removed voters. Trump criticised this ruling as “a totally unacceptable travesty,” anticipating Supreme Court intervention.
After the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals maintained the block on Virginia’s policy, the state had filed an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court.
