The US Justice Dept sues Virginia for violating federal election law.
The Justice Department announced today that it has initiated a lawsuit against the State of Virginia, the Virginia State Board of Elections, and the Virginia Commissioner of Elections for violating federal law’s prohibition on systematic efforts to remove voters within 90 days of an election.
This legal action is in response to a state program that seeks to remove voters from the election rolls too close to the general election on November 5, which is seen as a violation of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA). According to Section 8(c)(2) of the NVRA, known as the Quiet Period Provision, states must finish systematic efforts to remove ineligible voters from registration lists at least 90 days before federal elections. This provision is designed to ensure that states do not remove names from voter registration lists based on assumptions about eligibility, such as citizenship, at the time of registration.
“As the National Voter Registration Act mandates, 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,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “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. 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. The right to vote is the cornerstone of our democracy and the Justice Department will continue to ensure that the rights of qualified voters are protected.”
The Quiet Period serves as a crucial safeguard for voters, as systematic removal initiatives can often be fraught with errors, leading to confusion and the potential disenfranchisement of eligible voters just days or weeks before an election. This can leave individuals unable to rectify any mistakes made by the state in time to cast their votes or may discourage them from voting altogether.
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While states have various methods and reasons for removing names from official voter lists, they are prohibited from implementing such systematic removal programs too close to a federal election. On August 7, the governor of Virginia enacted an executive order mandating that the commissioner of the Department of Elections ensure the department is performing “Daily Updates to the Voter List.”
These updates involve “comparing the list of individuals identified as non-citizens” by the State Department of Motor Vehicles with the list of currently registered voters. Local registrars are then tasked with notifying any individuals whose registrations are at risk of cancellation unless they can confirm their citizenship within 14 days. The notice instructs recipients, who are indeed U.S. citizens and eligible to vote, to fill out and return an Affirmation of Citizenship form.
It also warns that failure to respond within the 14-day window will result in their removal from the registered voter list. This procedure has unfortunately led to the cancellation of voter registrations for U.S. citizens.
The executive order has established a formal procedure for maintaining an ongoing list, which has continued into the quiet period, with activities noted as recently as late September. This organized voter removal initiative, being conducted by the State within 90 days of the upcoming federal election, is in violation of the Quiet Period Provision.
The Justice Department is seeking injunctive relief to ensure that affected eligible voters can cast their ballots freely on Election Day and to prevent any future violations of the quiet period. Additionally, the department aims to implement remedial mailings to inform eligible voters about the restoration of their rights and to provide proper training for local officials and poll workers to alleviate confusion and mistrust among voters who have been wrongly identified as noncitizens.
The announcement was made by Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke from the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, along with U.S. Attorney Jessica Aber for the Eastern District of Virginia and U.S. Attorney Christopher R. Kavanaugh for the Western District of Virginia.
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