The Department of Justice (DOJ) has accused Virginia of violating federal law by attempting to remove voters from voter rolls shortly before this year’s presidential election.
The DOJ filed a lawsuit against the State of Virginia, Virginia State Board of Elections and Virginia Commissioner of Elections on Friday over the state de-registering voters who “have been identified as non-citizens” due to an executive order by Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin.
According to the DOJ, Virginia has been violating a “Quiet Period Provision” in the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 that requires states to refrain from removing voters from rolls within 90 days before an election regardless of the reason for doing so.
Virginia officials are accused of sending “Affirmation of Citizenship” forms to voters who “are in fact U.S. citizens and eligible to vote” and requiring them to respond within 14 days or have their registration canceled, a process that the DOJ claims “has led to U.S. citizens having their voter registrations canceled.”
Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division said in a statement that “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.”
“By cancelling 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,” said Clarke.
“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,” she added.
Youngkin vowed to defend his “commonsense” order in a statement on Friday, claiming that the DOJ lawsuit was “politically motivated” and an attack on election “legitimacy.” The governor did not mention the National Voter Registration Act or the claim that U.S. citizens have been removed from Virginia voter rolls.
“The Biden-Harris Department of Justice is filing an unprecedented lawsuit against me and the Commonwealth of Virginia,” Youngkin said. “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,” he added. “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.”
Newsweek reached out for comment to Youngkin’s office via email on Friday night.
Former President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly spread false claims that large numbers of illegal immigrants have voted or plan to vote in presidential elections, raged over the lawsuit and claimed that it amounted to “cheating” in a post to Truth Social on Friday.
Trump praised Youngkin for “doing an incredible job” by attempting to de-register the voters while claiming without evidence that Vice President Kamala Harris, his Democratic opponent in November, was behind the DOJ lawsuit.
“Kamala Harris and the Department of Justice have once again launched an unconstitutional and illegal attack on America’s Democracy,” Trump wrote. “This time, Kamala Harris, who is losing in the Polls, is trying to flood our Elections with NON-CITIZENS – These votes are ILLEGAL!”
“Now Kamala, because we are doing so well in Virginia, wants to put those non-citizens back on the voter rolls, even though they aren’t allowed to vote. The only reason for this is CHEATING,” he added. “This is unAmerican and, with less than 30 days until the Election, it’s clear-cut ELECTION INTERFERENCE.”
An average of recent polls compiled by FiveThirtyEight showed Harris leading Trump by 7.5 percentage points in Virginia as of Friday night, with the two most recent polls showing the vice president ahead by double digits.
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