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    • Virginia asks Supreme Court to allow purges of suspected non-citizens
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    Virginia asks Supreme Court to allow purges of suspected non-citizens

    Harry Posted on

    In one Virginia county, 43 voters were purged after proving — sometimes repeatedly — that they were U.S. citizens.

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    WASHINGTON – Republicans in Virginia ask Supreme Court to allow reinstatement liquidation of non-citizen suspects from the electoral rolls.

    Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares filed an emergency petition with the high court on Sunday, just hours after the federal appeals court upheld a ruling. The lower court’s decision halting the liquidation.

    U.S. District Judge Patricia Giles on Friday blocked a state program that had removed nearly 1,500 names since Aug. 7 because federal law prohibits voter purges within 90 days of an election. He also ordered the state to restore the records of those who were canceled at that time.

    Miyares told the high court that the decision violated “Virginia law and common sense.”

    He also said it would confuse voters, overburden Virginia’s election machinery and administrators, and possibly lead noncitizens to incorrectly think they are allowed to vote.

    Miyares said the Supreme Court must intervene by Tuesday because the district court ordered Virginia to comply by Wednesday.

    Voting groups opposed the state policy because it removed naturalized citizens from the rolls if they had previously declared themselves non-citizens on motor vehicle forms. Governor Glenn Youngkin’s schedule It informed people suspected of not being citizens that they would be deported if they did not confirm their citizenship within 14 days.

    But because years may have passed since motor vehicle declarations, advocacy groups and the Department of Justice have challenged the program in court, arguing that naturalized citizens have been removed from voter rolls.

    Advocacy groups said Prince William County Registrar Eric Olsen told the Sept. 30 board of elections meeting that his office reviewed 162 people listed as noncitizens in the state’s computer system and found that 43 people had already voted. But his office checked and found that all 43 had verified their citizenship (some up to five times) but were still removed from the voter rolls.

    “For the second time in three days, a federal court has ruled that it is unlawful for Virginia to purge eligible citizens,” said Ryan Snow, attorney for the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. “Command the Supreme Court to stop this madness and make it clear that preventing eligible citizens from voting is unacceptable.”

    Studies have found that a negligible number of suspected non-citizens voted, possibly due to the threat of criminal charges and deportation if caught. Studies done by Brennan Center for Justice And libertarian Cato Institute We found that non-citizen voting does not actually exist.

    But Republicans have made the removal of non-citizen suspects the focus of their voter integrity lawsuits this year.

    What’s right? What’s wrong? become a member For all the answers, check out USA TODAY’s Fact Check newsletter.

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