DOJ sues Virginia over voter roll purge

The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a lawsuit against the state of Virginia for purging voter rolls on Friday. The department claims state officials violated the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA) by challenging voters’ eligibility too close to the November election.

“As the National Voter Registration Act mandates, officials across the country should take heed of the law’s crystal clear and unequivocal restrictions on systematic list maintenance efforts that fall within 90 days of an election,” said Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general in the Civil Rights Division. 

In early August, Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-Va.) signed an executive order confirming there were “daily” updates to the voter list. 

These updates included “compar[ing] the list of individuals who have been identified as non-citizens” by the State Department of Motor Vehicles “to the list of existing registered voters.” 

Local registrars were then required to contact challenged voters to inform them they were “pending cancellation” unless they “affirm their citizenship” within 14 days.

DOJ said the process led to some Virginians' voter registration being cancelled.

“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,” read the legal filing.

Youngkin called the DOJ indictment an "attack" on Friday.

"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," the Virginia governor said in a statement. 

"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," he added.

The case follows similar DOJ filings against Alabama. The NVRA permits a quiet period provision, which aims to prevent officials from striking names from voter registration lists based on a perceived failure to meet initial eligibility requirements — including citizenship — at the time of registration. 

“By canceling voter registrations within 90 days of Election Day, Virginia places qualified voters in jeopardy of being removed from the rolls and creates the risk of confusion for the electorate,” Clarke stated. “Congress adopted the National Voter Registration Act’s quiet period restriction to prevent error-prone, eleventh hour efforts that all too often disenfranchise qualified voters.”

The Department is asking individuals who believe they were improperly removed to contact the Civil Rights Division’s Voting Section through their internet reporting portal.

“The right to vote is the cornerstone of our democracy and the Justice Department will continue to ensure that the rights of qualified voters are protected,” Clarke concluded.

Updated at 10:17 p.m.