Tipsheet

Virginia Files Emergency Stay With the Supreme Court Over Non-Citizen Voters

Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares filed an emergency petition with the Supreme Court Monday after a lower federal court forced the state to put non-citizens back on the state's voter rolls before election day. 

"Last night, Virginia filed an emergency stay in the US Supreme Court," Miyares posted on X Monday. "Americans citizens — and no one else — should determine American elections."

Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin has been fighting back against the ruling, which was imposed after the Biden Department of Justice sued the state, by noting the state law requiring non-citizens to be removed from the voter rolls was signed into law by a Democrat.

"Let’s be clear about what just happened: only eleven days before a Presidential election, a federal judge ordered Virginia to reinstate over 1,500 individuals–who self-identified themselves as noncitizens–back onto the voter rolls. Almost all these individuals had previously presented immigration documents confirming their noncitizen status, a fact recently verified by federal authorities," Youngkin released in a statement. "This is a Virginia law passed in 2006, signed by then-Governor Tim Kaine, that mandates certain procedures to remove noncitizens from the voter rolls, with safeguards in place to affirm citizenship before removal–and the ultimate failsafe of same-day registration for U.S. citizens to cast a provisional ballot. This law has been applied in every Presidential election by Republicans and Democrats since enacted 18 years ago."