In 2006, Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine has signed a bill that requires the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to submit a list of names of noncitizens for the state’s Board of Elections to remove them from voter lists.
The Justice Department of the Biden and Harris administration is now suing less than one month before Election Day in an attempt to restore 6,303 non-citizens who were taken off Virginia’s voting rolls in August.
Since Kaine’s election, all subsequent Virginia Governors, Republican or Democrat, removed non-citizens from the voter rolls.
In August, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin is a Republican who signed the executive order, partly based on the law that was drafted in 2006 by state senator Ken Cuccinelli.
The Daily Signal quoted Cuccinelli, Virginia’s Republican attorney general who won election in 2009.
Cuccinelli said that the Biden-Harris Administration’s legal actions were a result of pure political timing. These are people who have self-identified themselves as not citizens.
He said that the DOJ had acted in order to create news. They want to allow noncitizens to vote, including those who are not citizens.
Kaine, who passed the bill in 2006, became a U.S. Senator representing Virginia and Hillary Clinton’s running mate for vice president of the United States.
Daily Signal sought comments from Kaine’s Senate Office as well as the re-election campaign.
Kaine’s Campaign referred to an Interview with WJLA-TV in July (Channel 7), where a reporter was asked the question: “Should Non-U.S. Citizens vote in American Elections?”
Kaine responded: “No. Kaine replied: “No.
A Kaine spokesperson also told WJLA that on Wednesday, the campaign noted:
Sen. Kaine is of the opinion that it's illegal for noncitizens to vote, which is why as Governor he passed legislation that would prevent this. Noncitizens are not allowed to vote. The good news is there's no proof that they have or will be voting in Virginia. We need to prevent eligible voters being removed from the voting lists, especially just a few weeks before an election. Sen. Kaine wants to ensure that all eligible Virginians have the chance to vote during this crucial election.
Cuccinelli, who is now national chairman of Election Transparency Initiative, said that the matter will not be settled in court before Election Day. He said that the Justice Department lawsuit appears to be a warning to other states to not clean up their voter lists.
In the lawsuit, it is alleged that Virginia has removed non-citizens who are not citizens from the voter list in violation of the National Voter Registration Act. This law is also known as “motor voter” because this removal occurs less than 90 days prior to an election.
The DOJ action is a response to a federal suit filed by Virginia Coalition for Immigrant Rights (VCIR) and League of Women Voters of Virginia, in which both organizations made the same argument.
The Daily Signal quoted Katie Gorka as saying, “These liberal organizations sued Virginia. A few weeks later, the Justice Department filed the same suit.”
Gorka, a leading Democrat said: “This is a sign that they’re nervous about Virginia.” It used to be solidly blue, but now it’s a coin toss.
They are playing for optics, and it will backfire. She said that Americans believe “that only Americans can vote”.
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and Advancement Project represent the plaintiffs of the Virginia private suit.
In 2021 , three organizations that were involved in this litigation, the League of Women Voters (LWV), the Advancement Project and Campaign Legal Center, participated in a White House Conference. The meeting focused on implementing Executive Order 14019 by President Joe Biden, which instructed federal agencies including the Justice Department to work with private groups in order to increase voter turnout and registration.
The Daily Signal reported that the Justice Department brought an suit against Alabama last month for removing citizens from its voter registration lists.
The Southern Poverty Law Center filed a similar suit against Alabama. This far-left group is known for labeling center-right mainstream organizations “hate-groups” like neo Nazis or Ku Klux Klan. SPLC was also represented at the White House Conference on Biden’s Election Executive Order.
The Justice Department invoked the ” Presidential Privilege to keep its strategy plan from being released for implementation of Biden’s March 7th, 2021 order.
Cuccinelli, however, said that he believes “for certain” the Virginia lawsuit is linked to the President’s Order.
The former Virginia Attorney General said, “They hide communications everywhere.” There is no way of treating these as confidential. This is collusion at its purest and the weaponization of governments by these external groups.
Both private litigants involved in the Virginia lawsuit, the Virginia Coalition for Immigrant Rights and the League of Women Voters were asked to comment by The Daily Signal. Both did not respond.
The Justice Department has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Virginia on Oct. 11.
The National Voter Registration Act requires officials to adhere to the clear, unequivocal and crystal-clear restrictions placed by the law on the systematic maintenance of voter lists within 90 days before an election. Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke is the head of Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
In a public statement, Clarke stated that “By canceling registrations 90 days before Election Day Virginia puts qualified voters at risk of being taken off the rolls as well as creating confusion for electors.” The National Voter Registration Act quiet period was adopted by Congress to avoid error-prone eleventh-hour attempts that disenfranchise eligible voters.
FairfaxGOP originally wrote this and published it as The Biden-Harris DOJ’s move to put 6,000 noncitizens back on the voter rolls attacks a Democrat Governor’s policy
