Biden-Appointed Judge Blocks Virginia Effort To Remove Non-Citizens From Voter Rolls

A federal judge on Friday slapped down efforts by Virginia GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin to purge non-citizens off their voter rolls ahead of Election Day.

U.S. District Judge Patricia Giles, appointed to serve on the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia by President Joe Biden, ordered Virginia to restore roughly 1,600 voter registrants that she claims were unlawfully purged amid the state’s efforts to remove non-citizens from voter rolls, according to the court order. The court order marks the latest setback for GOP states attempting to remove non-citizens from voter rolls ahead of the November elections.

“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,” Youngkin said in a press release. “Almost all these individuals had previously presented immigration documents confirming their noncitizen status, a fact recently verified by federal authorities.”

“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,” the governor continued. “This law has been applied in every Presidential election by Republicans and Democrats since enacted 18 years ago.”

Virginia GOP Attorney General Jason Miyares in August announced his office had identified and removed more than 6,000 noncitizens on voter rolls since he entered office. That same month, Youngkin issued