Youngkin Wins VA Voter Roll Case Before Supreme Court

Republicans in states throughout the country are now celebrating a recent ruling that fell in favor of Virginia.

Republican Governor Youngkin will be permitted to remove voters from rolls who have not proven they are citizens of the United States.

The NVRA

The National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) prohibits any voters from being removed from voter rolls within 90 days of the election.

So, when Virginia tried to clean up its voter rolls just after that window had expired, the Biden administration pushed back and sued to keep the 1,600 names on the voter rolls.

Initially, Virginia lost the case, with U.S. District Court Judge Patricia Giles, who was appointed by Biden, ruling that the purge needed to be halted.

Many pundits and journalists, myself included, thought the Supreme Court would punt as it has done in other election cases, but the court fooled us all by not only taking the case, but also by ruling in favor of Virginia being permitted to remove the names from its voter rolls.

Big Win

When the DOJ sued to block the move by Youngkin, it claimed that this was being done at the “risk of disfranchising eligible voters.”

That, however, was not the case. These voters could still cast a provisional ballot on election day and prove they were citizens. The state had argued, “The injunction, which prohibits the application of a law that has been on the books since the Justice Department precleared it in 2006, will also irreparably injure Virginia’s sovereignty, confuse her voters, overload her election machinery and administrators, and likely lead noncitizens to think they are permitted to vote, a criminal offense that will cancel the franchise of eligible voters.”

Removing any possible chance of voter fraud just makes sense, and the court agreed.

After the decision was announced, Youngkin stated, “Clean voter rolls are one important part of a comprehensive approach we are taking to ensure the fairness of our elections.

“Virginians also know that we have paper ballots, counting machines not connected to the internet, a strong chain of custody process, signature verification, monitored and secured drop boxes, and a ‘triple check’ vote counting process to tabulate results.”

Virginia’s Attorney General’s office added, “States are free to systematically remove noncitizens, as well as minors and fictitious persons, at any time, including within 90 days of an election, without running afoul of the NVRA.”

Expect More

This decision will not only impact Virginia, as multiple states have tried to clean up voter rolls but were fought by the Biden administration.

For instance, Texas has an active suit now, and I would imagine that Attorney General Ken Paxton is already filing the paperwork for another review by the Supreme Court. This is absolutely a massive ruling for the GOP that will dramatically impact this election and push back against possible voter fraud.