In a memo responding to the lawsuit obtained by The Mercury over the weekend, Richard Cullen, an adviser to Youngkin, wrote that Virginia’s process of removing non-citizens from voter rolls has occurred under both Democratic and Republican governors. It also states that Youngkin believes he is not violating federal guidelines to clean up rolls within a set time to create a buffer to correct any errors.

“Federal law does not prohibit the removal of non-citizens from the voter rolls,” the memo says, adding that the 90-day “quiet period” under the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) “is not relevant to this process, “since Virginia conducts such an individual—not systematic—review under Virginia law to correct registration records.”

Youngkin on Friday called the lawsuit “unprecedented” and stressed that his executive order merely represents “appropriate enforcement of a 2006 law signed by then-Governor.” Tim Kaine, a Democrat who is demanding Virginia remove non-citizens from the voter rolls.

“With the support of our attorney general, we will defend these common-sense steps, which we are legally obligated to take, with every means at our disposal,” Youngkin said in a statement. “Virginia’s election will be safe and fair, and I will not stand idly by as this politically motivated effort attempts to interfere in our elections, period.”

But Scott praised the Justice Department for taking action (it also recently filed a similar lawsuit). lawsuit against Alabama).

“The reason we have this 90-day rule is because we don’t want citizens to be accidentally removed,” Scott said.

The DOJ lawsuit isn’t the only legal battle Youngkin faces over his Executive Order 35, either.

A federal one Men’s suit A petition filed earlier this month by the Virginia Coalition for Immigrant Rights and the League of Women Voters of Virginia claims the delisting process violates the law National Voter Registration Actthereby disenfranchising eligible voters while raising concerns about the transparency and accuracy of the state’s voter registration system.

The legal action by the two nonprofits came after reports surfaced that Virginians were being removed from voter rolls due to alleged inaccuracies and outdated information. Many of these removals, the lawsuit argues, occurred without proper notice or investigation, leaving voters unaware that they could no longer cast their ballot.

The lawsuit also alleges that the purges disproportionately affect minority communities, low-income voters and those who may not have easy access to the internet to check their voter status. Additionally, it is alleged that the Youngkin administration failed to adequately confirm whether a voter was ineligible to vote, potentially resulting in their voice being silenced in the democratic process.

“Naturalized citizens serve in our armed forces, pay taxes, and demonstrate their patriotism every day through their actions and contributions to our society,” Monica Sarmiento, executive director of the Virginia Coalition for Immigrant Rights, said in a statement earlier this month.

“Forcing new American communities to bear unreasonable burdens that no other community has to meet is discrimination and does not represent the values ​​our community stands for,” Sarmiento said.

Under Youngkin’s executive order, the Virginia Department of Elections is now required to only send notice to people at risk of being removed from the voter rolls.

This notice is based on information provided by the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), but there is no obligation to verify the accuracy of this information by the Department of Elections or local election officials before taking action.

State Sen. Bill Stanley, R-Franklin County, said Monday that the law referenced in Youngkin’s executive order applies to people identified as “non-citizens” on DMV forms submitted to the State Board of Elections “, which then checks the information against the voter rolls and notifies those individuals of their impending removal from the state’s voter rolls. You will be given 14 days notice of the deletion and you have the right to challenge it.

“And there are fail-safe measures for that,” Stanley said. “Even if they are subsequently removed from the voter rolls, let’s say in error, these people can still register to vote on election day under our ‘same-day’ registration law.” So I don’t understand why the federal government is doing this does, but for no other reason than to attempt to disrupt our otherwise robust voter registration process here in Virginia for political reasons.”

And Rich Anderson, the chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia, said in a telephone interview Monday afternoon that Youngkin’s executive order “pulled together a lot of operating practices and standards that may have been scattered across a number of other places into one document and showed the commonwealth that the Governor took this seriously and shouldered his responsibilities as Chief Executive.”

One of the functions of the executive branch, working with the legislature, is to “ensure confidence in our election processes and systems, and I think that was the entire intent,” Anderson said.

But Election Commissioner Susan Beals, who appointed Youngkin as Virginia’s top election official just weeks after she took office in early 2021, said in an interview A week before the governor issued his executive order, he stated that a procedure was already in place to ban non-citizens from voting.

“Anyone who comes to the DMV and presents documents showing that they are not a citizen – be it a visa or a residency permit – their name is sent monthly to the Department of Elections so we can double-check that they haven’t got it in our voter lists made. If we find them on the list, we remove them,” Beals said in the interview.

The two lawsuits are the latest in a series of voting access problems during Youngkin’s tenure.

Voting rights advocates condemn Youngkin administrator for mistake that affects 3,400 people

In October 2022, registrars across the state rushed to process the application a residue of over 200,000 new voter registrations due to a “computer error” between state agencies. In October 2023, more than 3,000 people were wrong removed from the electoral rolls. At the beginning of the year, the government also quietly adjusted its plans Restoration of voting rights.

The Virginia Constitution permanently disenfranchises people with felony convictions unless a governor pardons them or restores their rights.

McDonnell, the Republican governor who restored Scott’s rights, along with Democratic governors. Terry McAuliffe and Ralph Northam had streamlined and eventually automated the process. Now a petition process, Youngkin’s Restoration numbers have declined compared to its predecessors and few criteria were provided to explain the conditions for granting a restoration application.

The Virginia chapter of the NAACP took Youngkin to court last year seeking answers, but a The judge ruled that most details were exempt from disclosure through a provision in the Freedom of Information Act.

Although Youngkin’s changes to the procedure do not violate the law, Democratic lawmakers feel they are being used to restrict voting rights. The latest regulation falls in between persistent allegations Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said illegal immigrants are trying to vote.

In a current one Telephone rally Along with Trump, Youngkin announced the purge of over 6,000 people as non-citizens. But a Washington Post review of records and interviews with election officials found that most of the purge was due to errors in paperworklike people who forget to check a citizenship box.

It also noted that of the three illegal voting procedures conducted in Virginia since 2022, none involved a citizenship issue.