Richmond, Va. (Newsradiowrva.com) - Governor Youngkin has released a statement after a federal judge ruled to put more than 1,600 people back on the state’s voter rolls after they were removed under a program that the Justice Department says illegally took them off.
“Let’s be clear about what just happened: only eleven days before a Presidential election, a federal judge ordered Virginia to reinstate over 1,500 individuals–who self-identified themselves as noncitizens–back onto the voter rolls,” Youngkin said in a statement. “Almost all these individuals had previously presented immigration documents confirming their noncitizen status, a fact recently verified by federal authorities.”
Youngkin added that “Virginia will immediately petition the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals and, if necessary, the U.S. Supreme Court, for an emergency stay of the injunction.”
Under the National Voter Registration Act, Virginia and other states are prohibited from systematically removing the names of ineligible voters from the rolls within 90 days of the election. This is to avoid errors that could lead to eligible voters be taken off the rolls.
Youngkin has argued that his Aug. 7 order requiring daily update to voter lists to remove ineligible voters doesn’t violate the law and enforces a 2006 law signed by former Gov. Tim Kaine.
"This is a Virginia law passed in 2006, signed by then-Governor Tim Kaine, that mandates certain procedures to remove noncitizens from the voter rolls, with safeguards in place to affirm citizenship before removal–and the ultimate failsafe of same-day registration for U.S. citizens to cast a provisional ballot,” Youngkin said in a statement. “This law has been applied in every Presidential election by Republicans and Democrats since enacted 18 years ago.”
