Appeals court backs restoring purged voters in Virginia

On Sunday, a federal appeals court refused to throw out a lower court order that ordered recently purged voters restored in Virginia, setting up a possible U.S. Supreme Court appeal.  In a court filing Friday, Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin and state Attorney General Jason Miyares, also a Republican, indicated in their motion the state planned to ask the Supreme Court to lift the injunction this week if the appeals court did not do so. U.S. District Judge Patricia Giles ruled on that motion that the move would be too disruptive to administer with just over a week until Election Day.

The decision by the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals (comprised of Democratic Fourth Circuit Judges Albert Diaz, Toby Heyten and Stephanie Thacker) said they are “unpersuaded” by lawyers for Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin seeking to block an injunction obtained by U.S. Justice Department and civil rights groups.

According to court filings, about 1,600 people were removed from voter rolls in an Aug. 7 executive order from Youngkin. The appeals judges said neither the court nor the parties knew whether the people removed from the rolls “were in fact non-citizens” with at least some “eligible voters” had their registration canceled and didn’t know this was done. The three-judge panel’s order stressed that Virginia officials “remain able to prevent noncitizens from voting by canceling registrations on an individualized basis or prosecuting any noncitizen who votes.”

The ruling now sets up a Supreme Court fight over the purge program with early voting already underway in Virginia. Another federal court on Aug. 16 issued a similar ruling blocking a voter removal program in Alabama.

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