The state of Virginia filed an emergency stay application to the U.S. Supreme Court on Sunday in an 11th-hour bid to overturn a lower court ruling that halted its removal of likely noncitizens and restored about 1,600 residents to voter rolls.
The appeal came hours after the Fourth Circuit of Appeals upheld a preliminary injunction granted Friday by U.S. Judge Patricia Giles on Friday, which ordered Virginia to halt its process of removing potential noncitizens from its voter rolls and to reinstate all voters that had been removed in the last 90 days.
The appellate court upheld Giles’s decision in ruling that the removals had in fact been “systematic,” not individualized, and thus violated federal law – a blow to Gov. Glenn Youngkin and other Republicans in the state.
At issue is a provision in the National Voter Registration Act (NRVA), which requires all states to halt systematic voter roll maintenance for a 90-day “quiet period” before the election.
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The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia is seen in Alexandria, Virginia. (Bonnie Cash/Getty Images)
The Justice Department sued Virginia over its program earlier this month, arguing the removals were conducted too close to the Nov. 5 elections and violated the “quiet period” provision.
Justice Department officials also cited concerns that eligible votes may have incorrectly been removed from the rolls without adequate notice, or enough time to correct the mistake.
In the Supreme Court appeal, Virginia Attorney General Jason S. Miyares objected to the decision on several grounds. First, that the NRVA applies to noncitizens, which he said could render the primary basis for the lawsuit obsolete.
Even if the NRVA does apply, Miyares argued that the state still has an “individualized process” conducted by the Department of Motor Vehicles and local registration offices.
The process compared its Department of Motor Vehicles’ noncitizens list against its list of registered voters. Those without citizenship were then informed that their voter registration would be canceled unless they could prove their citizenship in 14 days.
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A person walks past a voter services van in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania has also seen its fair share of court challenges ahead of the election. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Youngkin has insisted the voters were removed legally and is based on precedent from a 2006 state law enacted by then-Gov. Tim Kaine, a Democrat.
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“Let’s be clear about what just happened: only eleven days before a Presidential election, a federal judge ordered Virginia to reinstate over 1,500 individuals–who self-identified themselves as noncitizens–back onto the voter rolls,” Youngkin said in a statement Friday.