The Republican Party of Virginia filed a court brief Tuesday supporting the governor’s efforts, asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reinstate Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s executive order removing approximately 6,000 Virginians from voter rolls.
The party’s brief arrived in court a day after Virginia filed an emergency stay asking the Supreme Court to block a federal court order ordering the state to add 1,600 people to its voter rolls.
Virginia asks Supreme Court to block order reinstating 1,600 people stripped from voter rolls
The state Republican Party argues in its filing that the removal of illegally registered noncitizens from Virginia’s voter rolls should not be limited by a “quiet period.” This period is a federally mandated period near an election during which systematic changes to voter rolls occur. limited.
But in a separate court brief, also filed Tuesday, a group of former members of Congress and outspoken critics of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, including Denver Riggleman, Barbara Comstock and Adam Kinzinger. A group of prominent Republicans are asking the Supreme Court to: Denies Virginia’s emergency stay request and upholds lower court ruling.
The former lawmakers said in their filing that while the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) of 1993 allows for “genuine individual removals” from voter rolls at any time, the law specifically disenfranchises voters. It claims that the aim is to prevent a potential full-scale purge. Targeted exclusion of unsuitable individuals.
“To protect the right to vote from the errors, whims, and bureaucratic morass inherent in last-minute systematic removals, Congress established a quiet period clause to protect voters just before an election. Or it may not be possible; it is impractical to correct a wrongfully terminated registration status,” the brief states.
Virginia’s recently implemented “daily systematic takedown program” is exactly what the NVRA’s quiet period clause prohibits, the filing continues.
“This is not a fraught incident. Rather, it is a classic violation of Congressional design. The fact that this last-minute, systematic plan actually disenfranchised Virginia voters is the It only confirms the wisdom and illegality of this plan. To do otherwise would undermine the bipartisan Congressional consensus that underlies the NVRA.”
The Virginia Republican Party said in a filing Tuesday that even though the NVRA applies to efforts to remove illegally registered noncitizens from voter rolls, Virginia’s process is “sufficiently individualized” It insists it will not be a “systematic” effort to exclude individuals. From the voter list prohibited during the “quiet period”.
More than 1,600 people were removed from the voter rolls under Yonkin’s order. Group seeks court injunction
The Republican filing argues that the Virginia Department of Elections’ method of comparing voter rolls and Department of Transportation data to identify noncitizens is sufficiently selective to avoid the limitations imposed by quiet periods. are.
“The court correctly held that ‘systematic removal’ refers to a program that makes decisions about voter eligibility based on large volumes of information collected by third parties, rather than on individual information or research,” the brief states. I interpreted it.”
Finally, Republicans argue that leaving the lower court’s ruling in place will cause “irreparable harm” as the Nov. 5 election approaches.
“The result of that order is that non-citizens who all agree that they cannot legally vote may be re-added to the voter rolls at the last minute, diluting their legal votes, and risking serious criminal prosecution if non-citizens vote.” “It puts them at risk, misinterpreting the lower court’s order as a green light to vote illegally,” the filing states.
Republicans also argue that there is no risk of harm to voters if the executive order remains in effect. Virginia law allows for same-day registration, providing an alternative means for people who were wrongly removed to vote on Election Day. If the executive order is upheld, “no legal voter can and will not be disenfranchised,” according to court briefs.
On Monday, Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares filed a federal appeal seeking an injunction blocking federal Judge Patricia Toliver Giles’ Oct. 25 order reinstating individuals removed from Virginia’s voter rolls. It was submitted to Chief Justice John G. Roberts.
Mr Giles had previously ruled that Mr Youngkin’s order issued in August may have incorrectly included voters. The order directed the Department of Land Transportation to send a daily list of individuals identified as non-citizens to the State Board of Elections for immediate removal from the voter rolls.
But the 2006 state law that provided the basis for Youngkin’s directive requires this process to occur monthly.
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