by WorldTribune Staff, October 30, 2024 Contract With Our Readers
The Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that Virginia can remove roughly 1,600 noncitizens from its voter rolls.
In a 6-3 decision, the high court granted a request from state officials to pause a lower court order that blocked Virginia from continuing its systematic voter removal program that was launched in August.
Federal and Virginia law prohibits noncitizens from voting in federal elections.
Liberal Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson said they would have denied the request from Virginia officials.
Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin ordered the systematic program to remove from statewide voter registration lists people who were unable to verify that they are U.S. citizens to the Department of Motor Vehicles. State officials said the program was in place, and the order merely changed the frequency of the data reporting from monthly to daily.
U.S. District Judge Patricia Giles, a Biden appointee, granted the Department of Justice’s request for a preliminary injunction on Friday, ordering the state to restore the voter registrations of roughly 1,600 people who were purged from state rolls under Youngkin’s program. A panel of three judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit upheld the district court’s order Sunday, saying in a brief order that it is “unpersuaded” by the argument from Virginia officials that the state’s program doesn’t violate the federal voter registration law.
Virginia officials said the district court’s order violates Virginia law “and common sense,” and “mandates a variety of disruptive measures.”
Virginia said it relied on Department of Homeland Security (DHS) records to flag more than 1,000 of the names to be removed from voter rolls. The others were flagged because they identified themselves as noncitizens at some point on state applications such as a driver’s license.
Those whose names were removed were sent notices giving them a chance to prove their eligibility.
Rich Anderson, chair of the Republican Party of Virginia, reacted to the ruling, stating: “Democrat lawlessness will no longer stand in a nation that is of laws, not of men.”
We are pleased by the Supreme Court’s order today. This is a victory for commonsense and election fairness. I am grateful for the work of Attorney General @JasonMiyaresVA on this critical fight to protect the fundamental rights of U.S. citizens. Clean voter rolls are one…
— Glenn Youngkin (@GlennYoungkin) October 30, 2024
Virginia is one of a series of GOP-led states that have announced major steps to remove noncitizens from voter rolls.
Texas, Ohio, Florida, and Alabama announced major purges totaling thousands of suspected noncitizens.
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose sued DHS, alleging that the agency has stonewalled his efforts to find and remove noncitizens from his state’s voter rolls.
The lawsuit alleges that DHS refused to provide Ohio access to federal citizenship verification records to identify non-citizens on its voter rolls on at least four different occasions.
LaRose first asked DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in July “for access to federal databases and search tools, including the Person Centric Query Service (‘PCQS’), to ensure that Ohio could verify the citizenship of specific registered voters whose citizenship may be the subject of dispute,” according to the lawsuit.
Ohio uses DHS’s Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database, which allows non-citizens to be identified by “specific immigration identification numbers (like an Alien Registration Number) that States like Ohio rarely possess,” the lawsuit states.
However, “PCQS draws from a much broader array of identification information, making it far easier for State officials to confirm citizenship status without having to use one of those unique immigration identifiers that States rarely possess,” the lawsuit reads.
“I swore an oath to uphold our state constitution, and that document clearly requires that only United States citizens can participate in Ohio elections,” LaRose said in a statement. “The Biden-Harris Administration is engaging in obstruction and outright abuse of power to prevent us from removing noncitizens from our voter rolls. I take my duty seriously, so if they want a fight over the integrity of our elections, they’ve got it.”
“While the administration is blocking access to these records, the Department of Justice is suing or threatening to sue multiple states, including Ohio, who are trying to enforce their citizenship voting requirements,” he added. “It’s hardly a coincidence. The same administration that’s presided over the most reckless, porous immigration policy in our country’s history is also intentionally blocking states from protecting the integrity of their elections.”
Earlier this month, 16 attorneys general, led by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost and South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, called on Mayorkas to provide federal citizenship verification records for voter registration verification.
DHS “is required to coordinate with States to verify voter registration information upon request,” the letter reads. “This federal-state cooperation is mandatory—not optional.”
Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming joined the letter.
In Maine, meanwhile, Democrats have declined to investigate the full scope of illegals voting in state and federal elections, a report said.
The Maine Wire reported on Tuesday that records it obtained “show noncitizens are registered to vote in Maine’s elections, and the total number of illegal votes could be large enough to tip congressional and even the presidential election” in the state.
“I’ve seen the records the Maine Wire used to show that noncitizens are registered to vote in Maine’s elections,” said Republican state Senate Leader Trey Stewart. “It’s clear that MaineCare beneficiaries with Alien Statuses other than ‘U.S. Citizen’ are registered to vote and votes have been cast under their names since 2016.”
Stewart added: “I’m disappointed that Gov. Mills, [Attorney General] Frey, and [Secretary of State] Bellows have decided to play politics rather than investigate seriously this clear and present threat to Maine’s elections. Mainers deserve to know how and why illegal votes have been cast and counted in Maine’s elections.”
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