CNN —
A federal judge on Friday halted a Virginia program that purged the state’s voter rolls based on indications that they might be non-citizens, and ordered officials to restore the registrations of about 1,600 people removed in the process.
The ruling, by U.S. District Judge Patricia Toliver Giles, an appointee of President Joe Biden, denies non-citizens the right to vote.
Instead, Giles has sided with the Biden administration and others, finding that Virginia’s plan violates federal law that prohibits systematic deletions from voter rolls 90 days before a federal election.
“If it’s within 90 days, we have to deal with it on a case-by-case basis,” she said Friday. Virginia’s approach “left no room for separate investigation.” The challengers also presented evidence that citizens were being unfairly left off the rolls under Virginia’s system, the judge noted.
As part of Giles’ order, election officials will send notices to 1,600 people informing them that their registrations have been reinstated. These letters also notify non-citizens that they are not eligible to vote in Virginia.
Former President Donald Trump said of the Truth Social ruling that “a weaponized ‘injustice’ division and a (Joe-appointed) judge have ordered Virginia to put non-citizen voters back on the rolls.” vehemently criticized. ”
State officials immediately appealed the ruling to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, and Trump said in a post on Truth Social, “I hope the U.S. Supreme Court corrects this decision!” Ta.
On Friday night, Virginia officials asked the Court of Appeals for an emergency order suspending the trial judge’s ruling. The appeals court ordered the Justice Department and private plaintiffs to respond by 1 p.m. Saturday.
Virginia has asked the appellate court to rule on the emergency appeal by Monday.
The ruling comes after the Justice Department won a similar lawsuit against Alabama over its 90-day purge program. On Friday, as Giles announced the decision in court, state attorneys asked him to pause pending appeal, raising concerns that some noncitizens could potentially be returned to the rolls. .
The judge rejected that argument, saying, “I’m not dealing with faith. I’m dealing with evidence.”
The supposed threat of noncitizens voting in the 2024 election has become an obsession of Trump and the Republican Party. However, documented cases of noncitizens voting are extremely rare. A recent audit of Georgia’s 8.2 million people on its rolls found that only 20 noncitizens were registered, and only nine of them voted.
Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) touted his state’s efforts to purge noncitizens with an executive order in August, just as the 90-day grace period began, continuing the program and removing suspected noncitizens. He promised to take more aggressive steps to eliminate it.
Under this program, if a person tells the Department of Motor Vehicles that they are a non-citizen through a check box, or if the Department of Motor Vehicles has other records indicating that they are a non-citizen, the Election officials will send two notices to the person. It takes several weeks to confirm citizenship or cancel registration. The program requires election officials to proceed with sending notices to individuals and starting the purge process even if they have other information indicating that the voter is actually a citizen. Due to outdated government data, naturalized citizens are sometimes incorrectly tagged as suspected non-citizens.
Yonkin criticized the judge’s ruling Friday and said the state would ask the Supreme Court to overturn it “if necessary.”
“Let’s be clear about what happened: Just 11 days before the presidential election, a federal judge ordered the state of Virginia to reinstate more than 1,500 people who identify as non-citizens to the voter rolls.” the governor said in a statement. He did not cite evidence that voters were also excluded.
During a daylong hearing Thursday, Virginia attorney Charles Cooper said purges focused on noncitizens are not subject to the quiet period imposed by the National Voter Registration Act and that Virginia’s process was “systematic.” He claimed that it was not a thing. Program covered by federal law.
He also noted that Virginia is offering citizens the opportunity to correct false positives, including the ability to re-register at the polls on Election Day.
On Friday, Giles said it was possible that people who were wrongfully purged could vote provisionally, but it would not be enough to salvage the program.
The state’s actions “limited voters’ right to vote like any other voter,” she said.
Opponents in Virginia also argued that same-day registration would not solve the problem of purged voters who tried to vote by absentee ballot.
Brent Ferguson, an attorney representing immigration activists and voting rights groups that sued over the deportation plan, said Thursday that his He said the team had already identified 18 nationals who were unfairly punished. Deleted.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
