The Supreme Court just gave Virginia permission to purge certain voters in shocking decision - INTO
Bad Call

The Supreme Court just gave Virginia permission to purge certain voters in shocking decision

It seems like every day leading up to the election, another crazy thing happens. Today’s nugget of insanity comes to us from Virginia, where it’s just been made legal to purge noncitizens from the voting registry.

As reported by CNN earlier today, the Supreme Court’s recent decision allows Virginia “to implement a program that state officials say is aimed at removing suspected noncitizens from its voter registration rolls,” a move that seems to align with Republican hopes for the outcome of the election.

Obviously this is messed up, and while Virginia isn’t one of the swing states where this decision could deny Harris a lead, it’s still a disturbing decision and the timing is questionable at best.

“At issue are about 1,600 voter registrations that Virginia said came from self-identified noncitizens,” CNN reports, “but that a US District Court said hadn’t been fully vetted for citizenship status.”

Noncitizens aren’t able to vote in elections on the federal level, but since the ruling feels like a reaction to Trump’s grossly exaggerated reports of “illegals” voting, there’s a lot to consider about the 11th hour decision.

On the flip side, a ruling like this could make it harder for Trump to cry fraud or interference in the case that he loses.

But there’s still hope for people who were wrongfully purged from the voting process: same-day registration is still available.

The decision also opens up the possibility of legal citizens getting purged from registration, which could create grounds for a lawsuit later on.

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Henry Giardina (he/they) is the editor of INTO. He lives in Los Angeles. Past publications include the New York Times, The Believer, The New Yorker, The Paris Review Daily, The Atlantic, Film Comment, and Gizmodo. He is @punkgroucho on Twitter.