WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed Republican officials in Virginia to reinstate a plan aimed at removing noncitizen voters from the rolls ahead of next week’s election.
The justices blocked a federal judge’s ruling that had put the plan on hold and required the state to add 1,600 voters back to the rolls.
The brief order noted that all three liberal justices on the court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, dissented.
“This is a victory for common sense and election integrity,” Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican who announced the plan in August, said in a statement.
“Virginians can vote on Election Day knowing that Virginia’s elections are fair, secure and free from politically motivated interference,” he added.
Virginia has same-day voter registration, so voters removed from the rolls should still be able to vote.
Civil rights groups backed by the Biden administration objected to the plan, arguing that some legal voters would also be removed from the rolls. The Justice Department said states can check their voter rolls, but not right before an election.
Under the National Voter Registration Act, states are prohibited from systematically removing people from voter rolls within 90 days after an election.
“Everyone agrees that states can and should remove ineligible voters, including noncitizens, from their voter rolls,” Attorney General Elizabeth Preloger said in a court filing filed by the Biden administration. The only question in this case is when and how it can be removed.”
Under the state’s plan, people would be flagged for removal if they checked a box on the Department of Transportation form declaring they were not citizens or left it blank.
Groups that filed the lawsuit, including the Virginia Immigrant Rights Coalition, said the process involved people who were not U.S. citizens at the time but may have indicated they later became U.S. citizens. Civil rights groups and the Biden administration have both submitted evidence of U.S. citizens who were likely removed from the rolls as a result.
“The record is clear that citizens are being removed from voter rolls,” the groups said in court documents. They added that the 90-day period was “designed to protect” voters.
Last week, U.S. District Judge Patricia Giles ordered the state to halt the program and restore more than 1,600 voter registrations that had been deleted in recent months.
Virginia’s plan reflects a broader, unproven Republican argument made by former President Donald Trump that voting by noncitizen voters is rampant.
The story could be used as a basis for challenging the election results if Trump loses on Election Day.
Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, a Republican known as an anti-immigrant hardliner, filed a brief motion supporting Virginia, joined by 25 other Republican state attorneys general.
Gary Grumbach contributed.
