Rights groups challenging Gov. Youngkin’s pre-election voter purge

Two rights groups have filed suit to challenge Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s ongoing efforts to remove voters from the rolls.

“Every American has the freedom to vote regardless of where they were born. Instead of protecting Americans’ freedom, Virginia is using stale data to illegally purge voters right before the 2024 election. The Department of Elections is engaged in a process that targets qualified U.S. citizens, and we filed the lawsuit to protect voters’ fundamental freedom to vote,” said Bruce V. Spiva, senior vice president at Campaign Legal Center, which is assisting the Virginia Coalition for Immigrant Rights and the League of Women Voters of Virginia in the suit challenging Youngkin’s Executive Order 35.

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ICMYI: Groups demand answers from Gov. Youngkin on voter access ahead of elections

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Youngkin claimed in a statement included in an Aug. 8 press release that the executive order “codifies the election security procedures put into place during his administration, including stringent ballot security, complete and thorough counting machine testing, and best-in-the-nation voter list maintenance.”

The lawsuit from the Virginia Coalition for Immigrant Rights and the League of Women Voters of Virginia points to a flaw in the language of the executive order regarding the requirement that state and local election officials to remove individuals from the state voter registration list if Department of Motor Vehicles records do not indicate U.S. citizenship.

As the complaint explains, Virginia driver’s licenses are available to non-citizens and can remain valid for up to eight years, meaning people who obtained driver’s licenses as non-citizens, then subsequently became U.S. citizens and lawfully registered to vote, are being purged from the voter rolls based on outdated DMV information.

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Voter info

Voters with questions about their voter registration or any aspect of voting should contact the nonpartisan Election Protection hotlines:

• 866-OUR-VOTE (English)
• 888-VE-Y-VOTA (Spanish)
• 844-YALLA-US (Arabic)
• 888-API-VOTE (Bengali, Cantonese, Hindi, Korean, Mandarin, Punjabi, Tagalog, Urdu, Vietnamese)

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The executive order requires the Department of Elections to send only one notice to individuals warning they could be removed from the rolls, and there is no requirement that state or local officials confirm the accuracy of the DMV information the notice relies upon.

Individual voters have less than 14 days to respond to the notice in order to avoid removal.

“Naturalized citizens serve in our armed forces, pay taxes, and show their patriotism daily with their acts and contributions to our society,” said Monica Sarmiento, executive director of the Virginia Coalition for Immigrant Rights. “The attacks against the voting rights of naturalized citizens are a vicious attack against our democracy. Forcing new American communities to carry undue burden that no other community is required to comply with is discrimination, and does not represent the values that our Commonwealth stands for. We demand the immediate dissolution of Executive Order 35, and for Gov. Youngkin to stand in support and comply with the 1993 National Voting Rights Act.”

That legislation prohibits the conduct of systematic voter list maintenance “within 90 days preceding an election for federal office.” The removal of ineligible voters is permitted, but must be based on individualized information or an investigation.

“We are proud to stand up for voters today against the governor’s illegal purging of registered voters based on flawed and outdated information,” said Joan Porte, president of the League of Women Voters of Virginia. “Instead of making our elections safer, power-hungry elected officials are sowing fear and distrust in our election. Virginians need to know that the League will ensure that all eligible voters can have their voice heard at the ballot box.”