The Justice Department is suing Virginia over its efforts to purge voter rolls within 90 days of an election, claiming it violates federal voting laws. Governor Glenn Youngkin signed an executive order requiring the Department of Elections to conduct daily updates and cancel voter registrations of identified “noncitizens.” The DOJ alleges that U.S. citizens have been wrongly removed from voter rolls. Youngkin called the lawsuit politically motivated and an attack on election legitimacy. Former President Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris also weighed in on the issue.
This is the second DOJ lawsuit in a month over violations of the National Voter Registration Act. Alabama was previously sued for similar violations. The DOJ’s actions are to prevent systematic voter roll purging close to federal elections. Virginia has voted Democratic in presidential elections since 2004, but had Republican visitors recently. Senator Tim Kaine is facing a Republican challenger in a Democratic-leaning race. The Virginia Coalition for Immigrant Rights filed a lawsuit against Youngkin over the voter purge process, which they claim is illegal and discriminatory.
The DOJ lawsuit has been praised by the organization as it aims to challenge Virginia’s citizenship purge program that they believe has disenfranchised eligible voters. The lawsuit is ongoing and the state’s Department of Elections declined to comment on the matter. Michael Kosnar is a Justice Department producer for NBC News, while Raquel Coronell Uribe is a breaking news reporter.
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