A federal appeals court has declined to reinstate Virginia’s controversial voter purge program, which sought to remove suspected noncitizens from voter rolls. This decision upholds a lower court ruling that found the program likely violated federal rules prohibiting “systematic” voter roll purges within 90 days of an election.
The 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals issued its ruling on Sunday, potentially paving the way for a Supreme Court battle over the issue as early voting continues in Virginia. Republicans, including Donald Trump, have spotlighted the case—a consolidation of lawsuits filed by the Biden administration and private advocacy groups—as part of broader claims about noncitizen voting, despite evidence showing such instances are exceedingly rare.
The 4th Circuit’s decision clarified that Virginia officials could still address noncitizen voting by canceling registrations on an individual basis or prosecuting any noncitizen who votes.
Earlier, US District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles, a Biden appointee, ordered an immediate halt to the program on Friday. She also directed election officials to reinstate the voter registrations of approximately 1,600 individuals who had been removed during the “90-day quiet period.” Of those, 600 were removed after indicating noncitizenship on a Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) form, while the remaining 1,000 were removed based on government database records suggesting noncitizenship.
