The U.S. Department of Justice said on Friday it sued the state of Virginia for violating the federal prohibition on systematic efforts to remove voters within 90 days of an election.
On Aug. 7, Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin signed an executive order requiring the commissioner of Department of Elections to certify that the department was conducting “daily updates to the voter list” to remove, among other groups, people who are unable to verify that they are citizens to the Department of Motor Vehicles.
U.S. citizens who were identified and notified, and did not affirm their citizenship within 14 days would be removed from the list of registered voters, the Justice Department said. It said this practice has led to citizens having their voter registrations canceled ahead of the Nov. 5 election.
“By cancelling voter registrations within 90 days of Election Day, Virginia places qualified voters in jeopardy of being removed from the rolls and creates the risk of confusion for the electorate,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke.
Anecdotal evidence. I went to early vote on Thursday, afternoon timeframe. It was busy for early voting. I was surprised. There was only like a 5-10 min wait, but still for early voting on a Thursday? A lot of the people verify information were announcing 1st time voters for people to clap. I probably heard it 4 times during that 10 mins. 1 of the first time voters was with me, so that might skew the data but still.
Good job voting for the first time! I don’t know if you’re 18 or 81 but thank you for participating.
I could have worded that better. It wasn’t my first time. I took some family and it was their first time.