Campaign Legal Center (CLC) is representing Virginia organizations in a lawsuit challenging Virginia’s last-minute and systematic voter purge program that relies on faulty and outdated data. The purge program particularly targets naturalized citizens, who are entitled to exercise their fundamental freedom to vote without barriers, like all U.S. citizens.
Back to topFree and fair elections and the rule of law are cornerstones of our constitutional system of self-government that must be defended. At the federal level, this means having a strong, independent U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) committed to honoring the Constitution through impartial law enforcement.
As the DOJ states on its website, “The mission of...
The National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) bans voter purges (the systematic removal of voters) within 90 days of an election. This period is referred to as a “quiet period.” On the very first day of the quiet period, Governor Youngkin directed the Department of Elections (ELECT) to identify and purge voters on a systematic and ongoing basis.
Since then, many Americans have come forward after being wrongfully and unfairly removed from the voter rolls.
The executive order directs ELECT to rely on Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV) data that is often faulty and outdated, especially for naturalized citizens. Virginia drivers’ licenses are available to residents who are not U.S. citizens and can remain valid for up to eight years. This means that someone could obtain a driver’s license as a non-U.S. citizen, subsequently become a U.S. citizen, and lawfully register to vote, but still be identified as a noncitizen in the DMV data.
In addition, voters are often rushed through electronic transactions at the DMV and can inadvertently check the wrong box.
Virginia’s fix is to send a single notice to voters—if the voter doesn’t respond within 14 days of it being sent, they are purged, and the state makes no further effort to investigate or confirm whether the voter is eligible. This process does not adequately safeguard against mistakes and violates the NVRA’s protections against voter purges.
This lawsuit comes on the heels of a letter CLC wrote demanding that Virginia stop its illegal purge program.
What’s At Stake
There are already strict laws in place that ensure only U.S. citizens can vote in federal elections. The safeguards we already have in place, including strict criminal punishment, financial penalties and possible deportation, ensure that only eligible citizens register and vote.
Last minute voter purges that occur within 30 days of election day, when early voting is already underway, inevitably deny qualified Americans their freedom to vote.
When Congress passed the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) in 1993, it ensured that—regardless of the theories state officials may come up with to remove registered voters just before an election—states are almost always banned from doing so by the NVRA.
Voter purges tend to target voters of color and naturalized citizens, undermining their fundamental freedom to vote. Our democracy works best when every voter can make their voice heard, but Virginia’s unfair, illegal voter purge program puts many Virginians’ freedom to vote this November in jeopardy.
CLC filed the lawsuit on behalf of the Virginia Coalition for Immigrant Rights and League of Women Voters of Virginia. Our partners include Advancement Project, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and Protect Democracy.
