RICHMOND, VIRGINIA – Yesterday, the Virginia Coalition for Immigrant Rights and the League of Women Voters of Virginia filed a lawsuit in federal court to challenge the state’s policy of illegally and systematically removing voters from the rolls only one month before the upcoming election. The plaintiffs are represented by Campaign Legal Center, the Protect Democracy Project, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and Advancement Project.

The lawsuit alleges that these systematic purges of Virginia’s voter rolls violate the National Voter Registration Act and risk improper removal of eligible voters, particularly those who are naturalized US citizens.

The challenged policy is a result of Executive Order 35, which was signed by Governor Glenn Youngkin in August and requires state and local election officials to remove individuals from the state voter registration list if Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) records do not indicate US citizenship. However, as the complaint explains, Virginia driver’s licenses are available to non-citizens and can remain valid for up to eight years, meaning people who obtained driver’s licenses as non-citizens, subsequently became US citizens, and lawfully registered to vote are being unlawfully purged from the voter rolls based on outdated DMV information.

“Every American has the freedom to vote regardless of where they were born. Instead of protecting Americans’ freedom, Virginia is using stale data to illegally purge voters right before the 2024 Election,” said Bruce V. Spiva, Senior Vice President at Campaign Legal Center. “The Department of Elections is engaged in a process that targets qualified US citizens, and we filed the lawsuit to protect voters’ fundamental freedom to vote.”

The Executive Order requires the Department of Elections (ELECT) to send only one notice to individuals warning they could be removed from the rolls, and there is no requirement that ELECT or local officials confirm the accuracy of the DMV information the notice relies upon. Individual voters have less than 14 days to respond to the notice in order to avoid removal — a burden that falls disproportionately on naturalized US citizens.

“Naturalized citizens serve in our armed forces, pay taxes, and show their patriotism daily with their acts and contributions to our society. The attacks against the voting rights of naturalized citizens are a vicious attack against our democracy. Forcing new American communities to carry undue burden that no other community is required to comply with is discrimination, and does not represent the values that our Commonwealth stands for. We demand the immediate dissolution of Executive Order 35, and for Governor Youngkin to stand in support and comply with the 1993 National Voting Rights Act” said Monica Sarmiento, Executive Director of the Virginia Coalition for Immigrant Rights.

To prevent states from disenfranchising eligible voters, the National Voter Registration Act prohibits the conduct of systematic voter list maintenance “within 90 days preceding an election for federal office.” The removal of ineligible voters is permitted but must be based on individualized information or an investigation.

“We are proud to stand up for voters today against the Governor's illegal purging of registered voters based on flawed and outdated information,” said Joan Porte, president of the League of Women Voters of Virginia. “Instead of making our elections safer, power-hungry elected officials are sowing fear and distrust in our election. Virginians need to know that the League will ensure that all eligible voters can have their voice heard at the ballot box.”

“The right to vote is a fundamental one, and states have a responsibility to ensure that eligible voters are not erroneously removed from the voter rolls. Instead, Virginia is fast-tracking removals based on faulty DMV data without doing anything to verify its accuracy,” said Ryan Snow, counsel with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. “This will disenfranchise eligible new American voters, who are disproportionately voters of color, on the eve of an election.”

The policy challenged in this lawsuit appears to be motivated by false and bad-faith claims about immigrants voting in order to confuse voters about the results of the November election. Only eligible Americans vote and every state, including Virginia, has legal checks and balances to ensure only citizens vote in our elections.

“Virginia’s policy is part of a campaign to undermine the public’s trust in the election process,” said Orion Danjuma, Counsel with The Protect Democracy Project, Inc. “The fact is, only eligible Americans vote. Evidence from previous elections overwhelmingly bears this out.”

"Cycle after cycle, our elections have proven to be safe and secure and still, there is a concerted, nefarious effort of state officials purging eligible citizens from the rolls based on fraudulent data and dangerous lies," said Celina Stewart, Chief Executive Officer of the League of Women Voters of the United States. "The League will continue to speak out against bad actors who threaten our democracy. And we will continue to leverage every tool in our toolbox to ensure voters are protected from those who seek to spread lies and distrust in our elections."

“Election officials owe Virginia voters free and fair elections. This means stopping the unlawful practice of purging voters, which is disproportionately impacting voters of color, on the eve of Election Day,” said John Powers, Director of the Power & Democracy Program at Advancement Project. “We will continue to use every available tool to protect the right to vote and to ensure that all voters’ voices are heard.”

Voters with questions about their voter registration or any aspect of voting should contact the nonpartisan Election Protection hotlines:

866-OUR-VOTE (English)

888-VE-Y-VOTA (Spanish)

844-YALLA-US (Arabic)

888-API-VOTE (Bengali, Cantonese, Hindi, Korean, Mandarin, Punjabi, Tagalog, Urdu, Vietnamese)

Read the Complaint

Washington, D.C. — Yesterday, Campaign Legal Center (CLC) submitted letters to local election offices in 11 states on how to navigate mass voter challenges that threaten to undermine Americans’ freedom to vote.

“Our democracy works best when every American can participate in it,” said CLC’s Senior Vice President Paul Smith. “Election officials across the country are busy working to ensure that our elections continue to be safe and secure, and these unfounded challenges are a waste of time and valuable resources. It is our hope that these letters can help equip officials with the tools needed to ensure a free and fair election this November.”

Background:

Laws in nearly every state allow private citizens to challenge their peers’ voter eligibility. These mass challenges are often based on faulty data sets containing inaccurate or outdated information, and if successful can lead to eligible voters’ removal from the rolls, preventing them from participating in an election in which they are legally entitled to vote. These challenges have a long history of targeting recently naturalized U.S. citizens, voters of color, student voters and voters with disabilities. Partisan groups use these laws as tools to undermine Americans’ freedom to vote based on meritless allegations, such as a voter’s change of address.

In 2022, Georgia’s Gwinnett County Board of Elections received challenges to the eligibility of some 37,500 voters—more than 6% of the county’s total registered voters, and more than three times the 2020 margin of victory in Georgia. This year, election officials in counties across the country, including in Georgia, Nevada, and Ohio, have already begun to receive similar challenges.

Mass challenges have been weaponized by partisan actors to threaten their peers’ right to vote without cause in an effort to manipulate election outcomes. Processing frivolous mass challenges also creates significant administrative burdens for election officials, many of whom are already working diligently to carry out other critical tasks in the weeks preceding Election Day.  

As the Department of Justice recently explained, federal law protects voters from having their registration cancelled on the basis of frivolous mass challenges made without sufficient evidence. Election workers can do their part to protect the rights of voters in their jurisdictions by providing challenged voters with adequate process before cancelling their registration or rejecting their ballots, including notice of any challenges made and a meaningful opportunity for the voter to refute the alleged grounds for the challenge.

View the letters below:

• Arizona
• Florida
• Georgia
• Michigan
• Nevada
• North Carolina
• Ohio
• Pennsylvania
• Texas
• Virginia
• Wisconsin

Read about mass challenges here, listen to the latest episode of our podcast, read our latest blog, or reach out to [email protected].