NORFOLK, Va. — The U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Virginia election officials on Friday that accuses the state of striking names from voter rolls in violation of federal election law.
The lawsuit filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria says that an executive order issued in August by Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, requiring daily updates to voter lists to remove ineligible voters, violates the "Quiet Period Provision" within the National Voter Registration Act.
In the complaint, U.S. District attorneys argue the provisions help "mitigate the risk that errors in systematic list maintenance will disenfranchise, confused, or deter eligible voters by ensuring that they have adequate time to address errors."
The defendants in the case are the state's Department of Elections as well as state Commissioner of Elections Susan Beals.
What is the 'Quiet Period Provision'?
Rebecca Green, a law professor and co-director of the Election Law Program at the College of William & Mary, said people should best think of the quiet period provision as a "buffer window."
The 90-day threshold allows eligible voters to correct mistakes and accidents that may have led to them being taken off a voter roll because of a clerical error.
"The law is more concerned about someone being mistakenly taken off the rolls, and not having enough time to fix the problem, or not even being aware of the problem and being turned away," Green told 13News Now. "This buffer period, it ensures that any maintenance doesn’t remove people right before the elections."
A similar lawsuit against state election officials was filed last week by a coalition of immigrant-rights groups and the League of Women Voters.
On Aug. 7 — 90 days before the Nov. 5 federal election — Youngkin’s order formalized a systemic process to remove people who are “unable to verify that they are citizens” to the state Department of Motor Vehicles from the statewide voter registration list.
According to Green, a changing address is just one example of when a clerical error may lead to a person being mistakenly removed from the voter registration list.
"Let's say 'John Smith' recently changed addresses and went to the Department of Motor Vehicles, and mistakenly checked the non-citizen box," Green said. "It’s a month before the election, in this 'program' [process identified in the complaint], if somebody checked no on the citizenship question at the DMV, their name is automatically removed from the voter roll. They’re sent a notice that says it’s been removed. You can imagine that maybe correspondence is lost in mail, you think it’s junk mail and throw it out, you haven’t seen this happen to you but it’s a clerical error."
"You’ve been voting for years, but you could show up on Election Day and learn you’ve been taken off the voter rolls. That’s what the Department of Justice is trying to prevent," she said.
Virginia election officials are using data from the Department of Motor Vehicles to determine a voter’s citizenship and eligibility, according to the filing. The lawsuit alleges the DMV data can be inaccurate or outdated, but officials have not been taking additional steps to verify a person’s purported non-citizen status before mailing them a notice of canceling their voter eligibility.
Impact of process
The lawsuit alleges in Prince William County, at least 43 of 162 individuals that were identified and then "removed" before July 31, 2024 — using the same methodology in the Executive Order — were likely U.S. citizens.
In a statement on Friday, Youngkin said that state officials were properly enforcing state law requiring the removal of noncitizens from voter rolls.
“Virginians — and Americans — will see this for exactly what it is: a desperate attempt to attack the legitimacy of the elections in the Commonwealth, the very crucible of American Democracy,” Youngkin said of the Justice Department’s lawsuit.
“With the support of our Attorney General, we will defend these commonsense steps, that we are legally required to take, with every resource available to us. Virginia’s election will be secure and fair, and I will not stand idly by as this politically motivated action tries to interfere in our elections, period,” Youngkin said.