US Supreme Court OKs Youngkin’s voter purge

The conservative majority on the US Supreme Court signed off on Virginia’s purging of voters with just days to go before Election Day.

The US Supreme Court issued a short order Wednesday to allow Virginia to keep about 1,600 voters off the rolls and continue removing more voters with just days to go before Election Day. 

The courts three liberal justices – Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson – would have denied Virginia’s request to be allowed to continue the voter removal program, the order said. The order did not include an explanation for why the conservative majority supports allowing Virginia to continue removing voters from the rolls so close to Election Day. 

Prior to the Supreme Court’s ruling, a lower court had ordered Virginia to restore the registrations of about 1,600 voters who had their registrations canceled and end the voter removal program that Youngkin began in August. 

Today’s order allowing the voter removal program to continue came in response to Virginia asking for the Supreme Court’s intervention. 

The US Department of Justice has argued that Virginia’s voter removal program disenfranchised citizen voters. Court evidence and media reporting has identified a number of people who had their voter registrations canceled improperly. 

The purported goal of the voter removal program is to make sure only eligible voters are participating in Virginia’s elections, but there is no evidence that ineligible voters have voted or are trying to do so. 

Ahead of the court order, a number of groups filed briefs urging the Supreme Court to defend voting rights, including former members of Congress who are Republicans. 

“The fact that this last-minute systematic program has in fact disenfranchised eligible Virginia voters only confirms the wisdom of the (National Voter Registration Act’s) plan and the illegality of this scheme,” the Republicans wrote. 

The major sticking point in the legal battle was whether it was happening too close to Election Day. The National Voter Registration Act includes a provision for a 90-day quiet period when states cannot systematically remove voters from the rolls. Youngkin directed Virginia’s program to begin exactly 90 days before Election Day. 

Creating fear around American elections has become a hallmark of the conservative movement in the Trump era. But there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud, and the rare cases that are discovered are usually due to human error. Efforts to purge voters follows this playbook. 

As news broke of the Supreme Court’s order, Virginia Democrats quickly decried the move.

“This decision is wrong and departs from longstanding precedent,” Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney posted to X, formerly known as Twitter. “The Supreme Court is actively inserting itself into the 2024 election and Virginians will suffer because of it.”