By Massive Margins, Voters In Eight States Say Only Citizens Can Vote In Their Elections
The ballot issues amend the state constitutions, barring foreign nationals from voting in state and local elections.
The Biden-Harris Department of Justice sued Virginia earlier this month in hopes of killing an initiative aimed at removing thousands of suspected noncitizens from the commonwealth's voter rolls.
The Youngkin administration fought back and won.
Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares noted, "I am pleased to announce that the US Supreme Court granted Virginia's emergency stay to keep noncitizens off our voter rolls."
In a 6-3 ruling Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily overruled Democrat-appointed 4th Circuit judges and halted a Biden-appointed judge's order, thereby allowing Virginia to resume the work of making sure that only American citizens can vote in next week's election.
Liberal Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented.
The stay means that Virginia — where the latest Quantus Insights poll indicates Kamala Harris and President Donald Trump are virtually tied — will not have to put over 1,500 suspected noncitizens back onto its voter rolls before Election Day.
'Kamala's Administration sued Virginia and is now arguing to the US Supreme Court that non-citizens must remain on the voter rolls.'
Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin said in a statement, "We are pleased by the Supreme Court's order today. This is a victory for commonsense and election fairness. I am grateful for the work of Attorney General Jason Miyares on this critical fight to protect the fundamental rights of U.S. citizens."
"Clean voter rolls are one important part of a comprehensive approach we are taking to ensure the fairness of our elections," continued Youngkin. "Virginians can cast their ballots on Election Day knowing that Virginia's elections are fair, secure, and free from politically motivated interference."
Dozens of red states backed Virginia's defense along with the Republican National Committee.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill tweeted, "Huge victory for election integrity! SCOTUS grants Virginia's emergency stay to keep noncitizens off its voter roles. Proud to have joined my fellow AGs in support of the American people and our most sacred right."
Murrill was among the 27 state attorneys general who filed an amicus brief asking the high court to allow Virginia to resume the work of ensuring the integrity of the election.
The amicus brief noted, "Non-citizens are not eligible voters. They were not eligible voters before Congress passed the National Voter Registration Act, they were not eligible when Congress passed the NVRA, and they are not eligible today."
Ahead of the ruling, RNC chairman Michael Whatley stated, "With only one week to our country's most important election, Democrats are now taking extraordinary measures to keep non-citizens on voter rolls. Kamala's Administration sued Virginia and is now arguing to the U.S. Supreme Court that non-citizens must remain on the voter rolls."
Blaze News previously reported that the DOJ sued the state over Youngkin's Aug. 7 executive order, which requires both the commissioner of the Virginia Department of Elections to routinely update voter lists to remove individuals identified as noncitizens and that the state Department of Motor Vehicles must expedite the interagency data-sharing with the DOE with regard to noncitizen transactions.
According to the DOJ, the election integrity initiative violated Section 8(c)(2) of the National Voter Registration Act, which requires states to complete programs intended to systematically remove the names of ineligible voters from registration lists by no later than 90 days prior to a primary election or general election for federal office.
Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia agreed with the DOJ, claiming the removals of suspected noncitizens amounted to a "clear violation" of the NVRA. Giles ordered Virginia to reinstate those individuals whose registrations were canceled under the program, including suspected noncitizens.
Virginia asked the 4th Circuit to put a hold on Giles' order, but two Obama-appointed judges and another Biden appointee denied their request Sunday, prompting the state to file for an emergency stay of the injunction hours later.
The commonwealth's emergency application stated that the injunction sought by the Biden-Harris DOJ will "irreparably injure Virginia's sovereignty, confuse her voters, overload her election machinery and administrators, and likely lead noncitizens to think they are permitted to vote, a criminal offense that will cancel the franchise of eligible voters."
According to Virginia, the program did not violate the NVRA as it was an individualized removal process. Further, the state stressed that Giles' injunction was based on a provision of the NVRA that "does not even apply to the removal of noncitizens and other voter registrations that are void ab initio."
The state told the high court that of the over 1,600 suspected noncitizens whom Giles ordered back onto the voter rolls:
About 600 of these individuals personally informed Virginia's Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) that they are not citizens, and about 1,000 presented noncitizen residency documents to DMV and were then positively identified as noncitizens through the United States' own Systematic Alerian Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database.
The Supreme Court did not indicate which of the state's arguments ultimately prompted its decision.
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The Commonwealth of Virginia has played what might be its last card against the Biden-Harris Department of Justice, betting the U.S. Supreme Court might allow election officials to resume taking noncitizens off the state's voter rolls.
Like other red states, Virginia has worked diligently to remove foreign nationals from its voter rolls in an effort to ensure that only American citizens are casting ballots in this election. These efforts, ramped up by Gov. Glenn Youngkin via executive order on Aug. 7, drew the ire of the DOJ, which sued earlier this month to foil the election integrity initiative — just as it had sued Alabama weeks earlier.
A Biden-nominated district judge obliged the DOJ Friday, ruling that Virginia — where the latest Quantus Insights poll shows Kamala Harris leading President Donald Trump by only one percentage point — must restore the voter registrations of thousands of individuals who allegedly identified as foreign nationals.
Virginia asked the 4th Circuit to put a hold on Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles' order, but a pair of Obama-appointed judges and another Biden appointee denied the request Sunday.
'About 1,000 presented noncitizen residency documents to DMV and were then positively identified as noncitizens.'
Left with one more option, Republican state officials turned to the U.S. Supreme Court, filing late Sunday night for an emergency stay of Giles' injunction, which is scheduled to go into effect on Wednesday.
Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares stated upon filing, "Americans citizens — and no one else — should determine American elections."
Youngkin responded, "It's commonsense: noncitizens shouldn't be on our voter rolls."
According to the commonwealth's emergency application, the injunction sought by the Biden-Harris DOJ will "irreparably injure Virginia's sovereignty, confuse her voters, overload her election machinery and administrators, and likely lead noncitizens to think they are permitted to vote, a criminal offense that will cancel the franchise of eligible voters."
Blaze News previously reported that Giles claimed the removals were a "clear violation" of the National Voter Registration Act's quiet period provision, which requires states to complete programs intended to systematically remove the names of ineligible voters from registration lists by no later than 90 days prior to a primary election or general election for federal office.
Virginia's emergency application stressed that contrary to Giles' understanding and the DOJ's claim, the commonwealth's process is not systematic — which would run afoul of the NVRA — but is instead individualized. Moreover, the state indicated the lesser court's injunction was based on a provision of the NVRA that "does not even apply to the removal of noncitizens and other voter registrations that are void ab initio."
The state told the high court that of the over 1,600 suspected noncitizens whom the Biden judge ordered back onto the voter rolls, "About 600 of these individuals personally informed Virginia's Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) that they are not citizens, and about 1,000 presented noncitizen residency documents to DMV and were then positively identified as noncitizens through the United States' own Systematic Alerian Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database."
Chief Justice John Roberts requested that the opponents of Virginia's election integrity initiative respond to the state's emergency appeal by Tuesday afternoon, CNN indicated, a signal that the high court will act swiftly.
Hans von Spakovsky, a senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation, recently told the Daily Caller that the Biden-Harris DOJ's lawsuits against Virginia and Alabama are the "exact opposite of what DOJ should be doing, it is a criminal violation ... — in fact, it's a felony for an alien to register to vote."
"And so what the DOJ ought to be doing is going to Virginia and saying, 'Can you please give me the files of each of these voters so we can investigate and potentially prosecute them?' And no, instead, they're saying, 'No, you have to keep on the voter rolls aliens who are breaking federal law,'" continued von Spakovsky.
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The Biden-Harris Department of Justice sued the Commonwealth of Virginia earlier this month in an attempt to arrest and reverse its efforts to keep noncitizens off the voter rolls.
A Biden-nominated judge obliged the DOJ Friday, ruling that Virginia must restore the registrations of over 1,600 individuals allegedly identified as noncitizens.
According to Bloomberg News, Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles claimed the removals were a "clear violation" of the National Voter Registration Act's quiet period provision, which requires states to complete programs intended to systematically remove the names of ineligible voters from registration lists by no later than 90 days prior to a primary election or general election for federal office.
The Biden judge ordered the state to dispatch notices to everyone whose registration was canceled under Youngkin's individualized voter roll cleanup program.
Giles indicated that these notices must go out even to those who election officials have reason to believe are noncitizens, telling the state's lawyer, "I'm not dealing with beliefs. I'm dealing with evidence."
Charles Cooper, a lawyer for the state, told the court, "Congress couldn't possibly have intended to prevent the removal ... of persons who were never eligible to vote in the first place," reported the Associated Press.
'It should never be illegal to remove an illegal voter.'
Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin indicated that Virginia will appeal the ruling and, if necessary, take the the matter all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court for an emergency stay of the injunction.
"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.
The governor noted further that the state was simply following through on a law "passed in 2006, signed by then-Governor Tim Kaine, that mandates certain procedures to remove noncitizens from the voter rolls, with safeguards in place to affirm citizenship before removal — and the ultimate failsafe of same-day registration for U.S. citizens to cast a provisional ballot. This law has been applied in every presidential election by Republicans and Democrats since enacted 18 years ago."
Blaze News previously reported that Youngkin issued an executive order on Aug. 7, exactly 90 days before the general election, requiring both that the commissioner of the Virginia Department of Elections routinely update voter lists to remove individuals identified as noncitizens and that the state Department of Motor Vehicles expedite the interagency data-sharing with the DOE with regard to noncitizen transactions.
"Call me crazy, but I think American elections should be decided by American citizens and Virginia elections should be decided by Virginians," Youngkin said in an interview.
The DOJ swooped in with a lawsuit on Oct. 11, claiming the initiative violated Section 8(c)(2) of the NVRA.
Former Virginia Attorney General Richard Cullen, Youngkin's lawyer, contended that the program was kosher because it is not a systematic program but rather an individualized process that begins with "individuals themselves indicating that they are a noncitizen during a DMV transaction."
Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares said of Giles' ruling, "It should never be illegal to remove an illegal voter. Yet, today a Court — urged by the Biden-Harris Department of Justice — ordered Virginia to put the names of non-citizens back on the voter rolls, mere days before a presidential election.
Miyares suggested that this is a clear case of the Biden-Harris administration weaponizing the legal system "against the enemies of so-called progress."
"That is the definition of lawfare," continued the state attorney general. "To openly choose weaponization over good process and lawfare over integrity isn't democracy: It's bullying, pure and simple, and I always stand up to bullies."
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