The U.S. Supreme Court issued an order on Wednesday lifting an injunction against Virginia Republican officials’ attempt to purge hundreds of names from voter registration rolls across the state.
The unsigned order means that those officials can push forward with their removal of names from voter registration rolls just days before the conclusion of the 2024 election — disenfranchising an unknown number of eligible voters in the process.
“The application for stay presented to The Chief Justice and by him referred to the Court is granted,” the court’s order said.
It’s unclear which of the nine justices ruled for lower courts’ stays to be lifted. However, all three liberal bloc members — Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson — indicated that they would deny the application to block the lower courts’ rulings.
The purge, which was initiated by an executive order from Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) in August to ostensibly remove ineligible, noncitizen voters from the rolls, targeted names on Department of Motor Vehicle forms where individuals had indicated they were immigrants or had otherwise left that space blank. However, it’s possible that, since those forms have been processed, individuals who indicated they were immigrants have since become naturalized citizens, and that those who didn’t indicate their status skipped the question by accident.
Indeed, a lawsuit jointly made by the federal Department of Justice (DOJ) and several civil rights groups identified dozens of people who were improperly removed from voter rolls.
Lawrence Otey, a resident of Roanoke, Virginia, who has been voting for decades, was one of the voters purged from the rolls. “I’ve been voting since Jimmy Carter,” he told Cardinal News.
Unfortunately, he mistakenly checked a box on a DMV form indicating he was a “non-U.S. citizen,” resulting in his voter registration being removed.
“Don’t get old,” Otey advised potential voters in Virginia.
Nadra Wilson of Lynchburg, Virginia, was similarly removed from the voter rolls despite being born in the U.S. “I was born in Brooklyn, New York — I’m a citizen,” she told NPR.
Wilson was sent a mailer from the state indicating she had time to rectify the situation. But that mailer was sent to the wrong address, and by the time it reached her, the deadline to fix the mistake had passed.
Wilson described the situation as “very, very unfair.”
Despite these and dozens of other known examples of eligible voters being purged from the rolls, Youngkin celebrated the Supreme Court ruling, describing it as a “victory for commonsense and election fairness” in the state.
Civil rights organizations involved in the initial lawsuit condemned the ruling.
“To say this decision is a disappointment is an understatement. The Supreme Court just ignored a key provision of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) and the clear fact that Virginia purged eligible voters on the eve of the election,” said Ryan Snow, an attorney with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.
The Supreme Court’s order is bewildering, as the NVRA is clearly written to block states, no matter the reason, from removing names from voter registration rolls within 90 days of any federal election. The ruling now has the potential to create dangerous precedent for states to challenge that restriction in the future.
Voters who have been purged can re-register to vote, as Virginia is one of 22 states in the country that allows same-day voter registration. But for many voters who believe they are registered to vote and actually aren’t (you can check your status here), the purging of their names from the voter rolls creates an additional, time-consuming hurdle to casting a ballot, especially if they don’t have the documents required to register at their polling location on Election Day.
Help us Prepare for Trump’s Day One
Trump is busy getting ready for Day One of his presidency – but so is Truthout.
Trump has made it no secret that he is planning a demolition-style attack on both specific communities and democracy as a whole, beginning on his first day in office. With over 25 executive orders and directives queued up for January 20, he’s promised to “launch the largest deportation program in American history,” roll back anti-discrimination protections for transgender students, and implement a “drill, drill, drill” approach to ramp up oil and gas extraction.
Organizations like Truthout are also being threatened by legislation like HR 9495, the “nonprofit killer bill” that would allow the Treasury Secretary to declare any nonprofit a “terrorist-supporting organization” and strip its tax-exempt status without due process. Progressive media like Truthout that has courageously focused on reporting on Israel’s genocide in Gaza are in the bill’s crosshairs.
As journalists, we have a responsibility to look at hard realities and communicate them to you. We hope that you, like us, can use this information to prepare for what’s to come.
And if you feel uncertain about what to do in the face of a second Trump administration, we invite you to be an indispensable part of Truthout’s preparations.
In addition to covering the widespread onslaught of draconian policy, we’re shoring up our resources for what might come next for progressive media: bad-faith lawsuits from far-right ghouls, legislation that seeks to strip us of our ability to receive tax-deductible donations, and further throttling of our reach on social media platforms owned by Trump’s sycophants.
We’re preparing right now for Trump’s Day One: building a brave coalition of movement media; reaching out to the activists, academics, and thinkers we trust to shine a light on the inner workings of authoritarianism; and planning to use journalism as a tool to equip movements to protect the people, lands, and principles most vulnerable to Trump’s destruction.
We’re asking all of our readers to start a monthly donation or make a one-time donation – as a commitment to stand with us on day one of Trump’s presidency, and every day after that, as we produce journalism that combats authoritarianism, censorship, injustice, and misinformation. You’re an essential part of our future – please join the movement by making a tax-deductible donation today.
If you have the means to make a substantial gift, please dig deep during this critical time!
With gratitude and resolve,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy