The Supreme Court issued a 6-3 ruling Wednesday that Virginia may continue the process of purging illegal and duplicate registrations from voter rolls.
The audit began in August after Governor Glenn Youngkin was alerted to the discovery of over 6,000 non-citizen voter registrations.
The Justice Department along with several organizations brought the lawsuit claiming that the examination and cleaning of voter rolls close to an election violated the voting rights of Virginia Citizens who might be mistakenly removed.
Virginia argued that the process of voter roll examination was a standard practice and should be allowed to continue.
Federal District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles shut down the audit Friday October 25th but the sate filed for immediate relief to the United States Supreme Court. Between the August start date and the moment Giles put the examinations on hold more than 1,600 non-citizens were identified and removed from voter rolls.
“This ruling is devastating for Virginia voters because we are essentially allowing eligible voters to be stripped of their fundamental rights,” said Joan Porte, president of the League of Women Voters of Virginia The League was one of the original plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
“This is a victory for commonsense and election fairness,” said Governor Glenn Youngkin in a statement. “Virginians can cast their ballots on Election Day knowing that Virginia’s elections are fair, secure, and free from politically-motivated interference.”
The primary legal question was whether Virginia’s audit violated a so-called “quiet period” that stops “systematic” purges from the voter rolls for a 90-day period preceding a federal election.
Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Brown Jackson dissented from the decision.