ROANOKE, Va. – The ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court allowing Virginia’s program designed to purge noncitizens from the voter rolls has brought mixed reactions from both those involved in the case and both major political parties.
“This is a win for common sense, this is a win for the rule of law,” said Attorney General Jason Miyares in a statement. “It means Virginia can continue to follow our own laws.”
At issue was Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s Executive Order in August expanding a program that uses DMV data to remove noncitizens from the voting rolls.
So far, around 1,600 people have had their registrations revoked because of this process. Youngkin told reporters Tuesday he was very pleased with the ruling.
“And of course that just provides further comfort across the commonwealth that this election will be secure, it will be accurate, it will reflect the will of the voters,” Youngkin said.
The U.S. Justice Department and a coalition of interest groups filed suit claiming the more aggressive order violated federal law because it came within 90 days of the election.
They also cited evidence that people who are indeed citizens had their registrations revoked simply because they made a mistake on a DMV form.
“They have never ever showed evidence of a non-citizen voting in any election. and we know the effect of programs like these is to simply disenfranchise eligible voters,” said Orion Danjuma, counsel for Protect Democracy.
Youngkin said voters who feel they were wrongly purged from the rolls can take advantage of Virginia’s same-day registration process.
The plaintiffs in the case indicated their efforts to fight the program are not over.
“The Supreme Court allowing Virginia to engage in a last-minute purge that includes many known eligible citizens in the final days before an election is outrageous. But the voters will decide this election, not the courts, and CLC will continue to fight alongside Virginians to ensure that they are able to participate in our democracy,” said Danielle Lang, senior director on voting rights for the Campaign Legal Center.
Local members of the two major political parties also reacted to the ruling.
“I think that under Gov. Youngkin’s leadership with Attorney General Miyares defending our laws, we believe in the process here,” said Robert Andrews, chairman of the Salem Republican Committee. “We want to make sure the laws on the books are enforced so that we have a free and fair fight.”
Meanwhile, the Roanoke City Democratic Committee said:
“The Trump-dominated U.S. Supreme Court today decided to permit Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s clearly illegal voter purge just days before the presidential election. While the number of voters involved in this is relatively small, what we know for certain is that at least some of these individuals are citizens who are eligible to vote, and simply made an oversight in filling out their registration form. We are deeply concerned about the precedent this decision sets, and about what this out-of-control court may do in the future.”
The party did echo Gov. Youngkin in urging all citizens to exercise their right to vote.