Voting rights groups reporting cases of eligible voters wrongly removed from Virginia rolls

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Voting rights groups say they’ve uncovered specific cases where eligible voters were wrongfully removed from Virginia’s voter rolls ahead of the November presidential election after an executive order by Governor Glenn Youngkin.

Court documents obtained by 8News from voting rights groups suing the state in response to the executive order outline three individual cases where eligible voters were wrongfully booted from rolls.

One of the cases is a Henrico County woman who’s been an eligible voter for more than 20 years. According to the filing, when she showed up to vote earlier this month, she was told her registration had been canceled.

Another case is a Fairfax County woman who is a naturalized U.S. citizen but said her registration was also canceled despite voting in the 2020 presidential election.

“It suggests that the program is being run in a way that may not rise to the level for us thinking it’s a legitimate basis on which to remove someone from the list,” University of Richmond Law Professor Henry Chambers told 8News.

The U.S. Department of Justice and several voting rights groups have filed a lawsuit against Virginia in response to the program, alleging the removal process violates a federal law preventing states from systematically removing voters 90 days before an election.

Virginia is defending the program, saying action is only taken when a person checks a box on Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) paperwork saying they are a non-citizen.

“The examples that are provided suggest that the information the DMV may be providing might be old information which was the point and that might make the program appear more systematic,” said Chambers. “And, if the program is systematic, it’s more likely to be subject to the quiet period.”

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