By Jasper Ward
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Division of Justice mentioned on Friday it sued the state of Virginia for violating the federal prohibition on systematic efforts to take away voters inside 90 days of an election.
On Aug. 7, Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin signed an govt order requiring the commissioner of Division of Elections to certify that the division was conducting “daily updates to the voter list” to take away, amongst different teams, people who find themselves unable to confirm that they’re residents to the Division of Motor Automobiles.
U.S. residents who have been recognized and notified, and didn’t affirm their citizenship inside 14 days can be faraway from the checklist of registered voters, the Justice Division mentioned. It mentioned this follow has led to residents having their voter registrations canceled forward of the Nov. 5 election.
“By cancelling voter registrations within 90 days of Election Day, Virginia places qualified voters in jeopardy of being removed from the rolls and creates the risk of confusion for the electorate,” mentioned Assistant Lawyer Common Kristen Clarke.
“Congress adopted the National Voter Registration Act’s quiet period restriction to prevent error-prone, eleventh hour efforts that all too often disenfranchise qualified voters,” Clarke added.
The division mentioned it’s looking for injunctive reduction that may restore the power of impacted eligible voters to vote unimpeded on Election Day and would prohibit future violations.
Youngkin known as the transfer politically motivated and an try and intrude within the election.
“With the support of our Attorney General, we will defend these common sense steps that we are legally required to take with every resource available to us,” he mentioned in a press release on Friday.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump described the division’s lawsuit as “an unconstitutional and illegal attack on America’s democracy.”
Republicans throughout the U.S. have pushed in opposition to non-citizen voting, which is already unlawful, forward of the November election. Some election officers have warned that the transfer might penalize eligible voters.
