The Virginia Court of Appeals has ruled against the state’s attempt to purge suspected noncitizen voters from its voter rolls. The court’s decision came in response to a lawsuit filed by the League of United Latin American Citizens and a group of individual voters. The lawsuit argued that the state’s voter purge program targeted many eligible voters, including naturalized citizens.
The program, known as the Centralized Voter Registration System, was implemented by the Virginia Department of Elections in an effort to identify and remove noncitizen voters from the rolls. However, the court found that the program relied on flawed data and lacked proper safeguards to prevent eligible voters from being improperly removed.
In its ruling, the court determined that the state’s process for identifying noncitizen voters was unreliable and that the system used to provide notices to individuals being purged was not sufficient. The court also noted that the state failed to provide evidence of any widespread voter fraud by noncitizen voters, further undermining the justification for the purge program.
The decision is seen as a victory for voting rights advocates who have long argued that voter purge programs disproportionately target minority and immigrant communities. The court’s ruling will prevent the removal of potentially eligible voters from the rolls and ensure that all eligible individuals have the opportunity to participate in upcoming elections.
The Virginia Department of Elections has not yet stated whether it plans to appeal the court’s decision. In the meantime, voting rights advocates are celebrating the ruling as a step towards protecting the rights of all voters in the state.
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