Cutting it Close: Ensuring the Commonwealth Complies with Federal and Virginia Law Governing Voter Roll Removals
October 17, 2024
By: William & Mary Student Contributor
Exactly 90-days ahead of the 2024 November general election, Virginia’s Governor Youngkin issued an Executive Order announcing the removal of 6,303 non-citizens from Virginia’s voter rolls. Local Virginia officials “attributed much of the presence of possible noncitizens on the voter rolls to errors made when people fill out paper or online forms or when they respond to a question about citizenship on a touchpad device at the department of motor vehicles.” In the E.O., Governor Youngkin directed the Virginia Department of Elections to make daily updates to the voter list by removing non-citizens should they intentionally or unintentionally attempt to register to vote. Further, the Governor directed the Department of Motor Vehicles to “generate a daily file of all non-citizens transactions, including addresses and document numbers.”
Ensuring secure and fair elections should be a top priority for state election officials, but federal and state law requires states to comply with procedural safeguards when removing people from voter rolls. Under Virginia law, the registrar must post at the courthouse or publish in a newspaper the name of the person whose registration will be canceled because of allegations of improper registration. Additionally, the registrar must mail a notice to the last known address of the voter being removed, explaining the reasons for the cancellation, the facts on which the cancellation is based, and when the registrar will hold a hearing for testimony for or against the person to be removed from the voter roll. The hearings must be held at least ten days after the registrar mails the notice and cannot be held within 60 days of the general election. If the voter fails to appear at the hearing to defend his or her right to be registered, the general registrar will cancel his or her registration.
Federal law provides further limitations on when and how voters can be removed from voter rolls. Section 8 of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA) requires states to complete any “general list maintenance program” that systematically removes the names of ineligible voters from the rolls no later than 90 days before a primary or general election for federal office. The NVRA also requires that a state’s removal process be uniform, nondiscriminatory, and compliant with the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Although Governor Youngkin’s removal of 6,303 non-citizens from the voter rolls occurred outside of the 90-day quiet period ahead of the November 2024 general election, future actions taken by Governor Youngkin and the Virginia Department of Elections must comply with Virginia law and the NVRA. Governor Youngkin’s Executive Order directed the Virginia Department of Elections to make daily updates to the voter list by removing non-citizens. Virginia law provides that hearings concerning allegations of improper registration cannot be held within 60-days of the general election. The NVRA prohibits Governor Youngkin and the Virginia Department of Elections from systematically removing names of ineligible voters from the voter rolls when the federal election is less than 90 days away. To comply with the NVRA within the 90-day quiet period, Virginia must ensure they are not systematically removing voters or concentrating removals in certain precents or populations.
If a Virginian discovers that they have mistakenly been removed from the voter roll, the Virginian can re-register and vote at the general registrar office during early voting or at their polling place on election day.