Supreme Court’s conservative justices allow Virginia to resume its purge of voter registrations

• The justices acted on the state’s emergency appeal after a federal judge found that the state illegally purged more than 1,600 voter registrations in the past two months. 

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court’s conservative majority on Wednesday allowed Virginia to resume its purge of voter registrations that the state says is aimed at stopping people who are not U.S. citizens from voting.

The high court, over the dissents of the three liberal justices, granted an emergency appeal from Virginia’s Republican administration led by Gov. Glenn Youngkin. The court provided no rationale for its action, which is typical in emergency appeals.

The justices acted on Virginia’s appeal after a federal judge found that the state illegally purged more than 1,600 voter registrations in the past two months. A federal appeals court had previously allowed the judge’s order to remain in effect.

Such voting is rare in American elections, but the specter of immigrants voting illegally has been a main part of the political messaging this year from former President Donald Trump and other Republicans.

Trump had criticized the earlier ruling, calling it “a totally unacceptable travesty” on social media. “Only U.S. Citizens should be allowed to vote,” Trump wrote.

The Justice Department and a coalition of private groups sued the state earlier in October, arguing that Virginia election officials, acting on an executive order issued in August by Youngkin were striking names from voter rolls in violation of federal election law.

The National Voter Registration Act requires a 90-day “quiet period” ahead of elections for the maintenance of voter rolls so that legitimate voters are not removed from the rolls by bureaucratic errors or last-minute mistakes that cannot be quickly corrected.

Youngkin issued his order on Aug. 7, the 90th day before the election. It required daily checks of data from the state Department of Motor Vehicles against voter rolls to identify people who are not U.S. citizens.

U.S. District Judge Patricia Giles said elections officials still could remove names on an individualized basis, but not through a systematic purge. Court records indicated that at least some of those whose registrations were removed are U.S. citizens.

Giles had ordered the state to notify affected voters and local registrars by Wednesday that the registrations have been restored.

Youngkin said the Supreme Court’s action was “a victory for commonsense and election fairness.”

“Clean voter rolls are one important part of a comprehensive approach we are taking to ensure the fairness of our elections,” he said in a written statement.

A lawyer for the private groups that sued said people can still register to vote on Election Day. Nov. 5, and cast their ballots.

“The Supreme Court allowing Virginia to engage in a last-minute purge that includes many known eligible citizens in the final days before an election is outrageous,” said Danielle Lang, senior director for voting rights at the Campaign Legal Center.

Nearly 6 million Virginians are registered to vote.

In a similar lawsuit in Alabama, a federal judge this month ordered the state to restore eligibility for more than 3,200 voters who had been deemed ineligible noncitizens. Testimony from state officials in that case showed that roughly 2,000 of the 3,251 voters who were made inactive were actually legally registered citizens.

Associated Press writers Matthew Barakat in Alexandria, Virginia, and Lindsay Whitehurst contributed to this report.