Virginia Asks US Supreme Court to Approve Voter Registration Removals

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Facts

  • Republican Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares has filed an emergency petition with the US Supreme Court (SCOTUS) asking it to overturn a lower court's ruling that stopped the state's removal of suspected noncitizens from its voter rolls.[1]
  • This comes after a federal appeals court Sunday upheld the lower court's ruling, restoring the registrations of some 1.6K voters removed under an order by Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who said the effort is meant to keep noncitizens from voting.[2]
  • Youngkin's Aug. 7 executive order directed state election officials to use records from the state's department of motor vehicles to cancel the voter registration of suspected noncitizens within 14 days. The Biden administration and immigrant advocacy groups sued Virginia.[3]
  • The plaintiffs claimed Virginia's program violated the so-called Quiet Period Provision of the National Voter Registration Act, barring states from carrying out the removal of ineligible voters fewer than 90 days before an election. So far the courts have agreed.[4]
  • The three-judge appeals court didn't just agree with the lower court but also asserted that election officials had actually canceled the registration of many eligible voters.[4]
  • The Virginia officials' filing with SCOTUS claims that noncitizens can be removed from the rolls at any time because they've never been eligible to vote in the first place. The filing also questioned whether it was legal for the courts to interfere in the state's 'reasonable and longstanding election processes' so close to Election Day.[4][5]

Sources: [1]USA Today, [2]Associated Press, [3]SCOTUSblog, [4]CBS and [5]FOX News.

Narratives

  • Democratic narrative, as provided by Mother Jones. Of course Youngkin's order violates federal law. Worst of all, he issued the order based on conspiracy theories former Pres. Donald Trump and Republicans have been spreading about noncitizens voting without offering any proof. Youngkin's order would disenfranchise thousands of eligible voters, which can't happen this close to the election. Republicans' attempts at voter suppression seemingly know no bounds.
  • Republican narrative, as provided by Wsj and PJ Media. Obviously, there are forces in the Democratic-led US government who think they'll gain an advantage by allowing noncitizens to vote in the upcoming presidential election. Accusations of voter suppression are ridiculous because Youngkin's order has numerous failsafes to make sure eligible voters will be able to participate in the election. The courts interfering in Virginia's business this close to Election Day smells of partisan politics gone wrong.

Predictions