The DOJ has sued Virginia for purging its voter rolls too close to the November 5th election.
In August, Gov. Glenn Youngkin issued an executive order to remove noncitizens from the voting rolls.
Yeah, the removal happened in early August.
Less than a month before the election, the DOJ is just now suing Virginia.
Youngkin released this statement:
“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 signed by Democrat Tim Kaine that requires Virginia to remove noncitizens from the voter rolls – a process that starts with someone declaring themselves a non-citizen and then registering to vote. 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. 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. 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 DOJ claimed Virginia violated Section 8(c)(2) of the NVRA, also known as the Quiet Period Provision.
That rule says states cannot remove voters from rolls “no later than 90 days before federal elections.”
Youngkin signed the EO on August 7. The election is November 5.
I sat down with a calendar and if you count August 7 and November 5 then it’s 91 days.
So…the DOJ doesn’t have a case. The DOJ wrote in the filing:
On August 7, 2024—90 days before the November 5, 2024, federal General Election—the Commonwealth of Virginia announced the formalization of a systematic process to remove “individuals who are unable to verify that they are citizens to the [Virginia] Department of Motor Vehicles from the statewide voter registration list” (the “Program”).In this action, the United States alleges that the implementation of the Program violates the Quiet Period Provision.The Quiet Period Provision embodies Congress’s clear and considered judgment to restrict states from engaging in systematic processes aimed at removing the names of ineligible voters from the rolls in the final days before an election. And for good reason: systematic removal programs are more error-prone than other forms of list maintenance, and eligible voters placed on the path to removal days or weeks before Election Day may be deterred from voting or unable to participate in the election on the same terms that they would have but for the Commonwealth’s error.
“The Commonwealth’s unlawful actions here have likely confused, deterred, and removed U.S. citizens who are fully eligible to vote—the very scenario that Congress tried to prevent when it enacted the Quiet Period Provision,” added the DOJ.
Let me get this straight. Youngkin signed the EO 90 days before the election but is still in the wrong.
*sigh* He should have done it in July. But still. The point stands. He did it 91 days before the election.
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