By MATTHEW BARAKAT
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — More than 1,600 Virginians have had their voter registrations canceled since August under a state program that the Justice Department and advocacy groups contend is illegal.
The scope of the removals was revealed for the first time this week after a federal magistrate ordered the state to disclose the figure as part of a federal lawsuit.
The Justice Department alleges in a lawsuit that Virginia is violating federal law by systematically removing alleged noncitizens from the voter rolls during a 90-day “quiet period” ahead of the November election.
The quiet period is designed to ensure that mistakes don’t accidentally disenfranchise legitimate voters ahead of an election without an opportunity to rectify the error.
It was been previously known how many voters were purged from the rolls under the program enacted by Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin as part of an executive order issued in August.
On Monday, though, a federal magistrate ordered the state to disclose the names and addresses of those removed from the voter rolls to the plaintiffs’ groups suing the state, which include not only the Justice Department, but also the League of Women Voters.
A spokesperson for Protect Democracy, one of the legal groups that helped file the lawsuit on behalf of the League of Women Voters, said Wednesday that data provided by the state this week under the magistrate’s order shows that more than 1,600 voters have been removed after the 90-day quiet period was to have taken effect.
The spokesperson, Aaron Baird, said that lawyers are continuing to review the information but have already found many naturalized citizens who were wrongly purged from the rolls.
The state contends that the removals are triggered when voters voluntarily disclose their noncitizen status to the Department of Motor Vehicles and that anyone identified for removal is notified and given two weeks to respond if they believe their removal from the voter rolls would be in error.
A hearing is scheduled for Thursday in Alexandria on a Justice Department request for an injunction that could block the program and restore the registrations of those purged from the rolls.
In court papers, lawyers for the state contend that an injunction would be an unnecessary intrusion into Virginia election procedures.
In media interviews, Youngkin has questioned the Justice Department’s motives for filing the lawsuit.
“How can I as a governor allow noncitizens to be on the voter roll?” Youngkin asked rhetorically during an appearance of Fox News Sunday.
Nearly 6 million Virginians are registered to vote.
A similar lawsuit was filed in Alabama, and a federal judge there last week ordered the state to restore eligibility for more than 3,200 voters who had been deemed ineligible noncitizens. Testimony from state officials in that case showed that roughly 2,000 of the 3,251 voters who were made inactive were actually legally registered citizens.
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