Virginia's governor says his embattled voter purge program is just an effort to keep noncitizens off the state's voter roll. But many legal voters have been caught in the fray, too.
Rina Shaw is a recent college grad who lives — and was a registered voter — in Central Virginia for pretty much all her life. But when she went to get her learners permit in mid-September, a combination of nerves and an earlier failing test result caused her to rush through paperwork. She failed to properly identify herself as a U.S. citizen and was flagged as a noncitizen by Youngkin’s voter purge program. But even after trying to correct the issue via mailed-in paperwork, she was removed from the voter roll.
“They said that they made a mistake," Shaw said of a call she put with her local registrar's office after seeing she'd been removed from the rolls. "That I got inundated, but then it was supposed to be restored, and they just didn’t do it.”
Shaw is one of an increasing number of Virginia residents, and U.S. citizens with voting records, who have been swept up in the governor’s attempt to purge noncitizen voters from the state’s poll book.
Michael O'Neill is with the Landmark Legal Foundation. His group supports Youngkin’s effort, even if legal voters are removed. He says it's in pursuit of a clean voter roll, and state law allows same-day voter registration, so they can still vote provisionally on Election Day.
“You have not lost your right to vote; those people can vote,” he said, pointing to law changes made by Democrats in 2020.
Shaw, meanwhile, was reenrolled after a call to her registrar’s office. And she’s got a message for Youngkin after she was pulled from the roll.
“I think it’s ridiculous," she said after promising to vote early as soon as possible. "Like, I’m supposed to elect him, he’s not supposed to choose whether I can vote or not.”
Virginia is waiting to see what the U.S. Supreme Court will do with a lower court ruling – which found the program to be illegal under federal law.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
