The Supreme Court voted yesterday to uphold the removal of more than 1,600 voter registrations from Virginia.
These voters were removed following an August 7 executive order from Gov. Glenn Youngkin, which sought to increase audits of registered voters and remove noncitizens.
Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Patricia Giles ruled that the program was illegally removing voters during the 90-day “quiet period” before an election. A federal appeals court upheld Giles’ ruling, but the Supreme Court issued a decision on October 30 to allow the removals.
“Clean voter rolls are one important part of a comprehensive approach we are taking to ensure the fairness of our elections. Virginians also know that we have paper ballots, counting machines not connected to the internet, a strong chain of custody process, signature verification, monitored and secured drop boxes, and a ‘triple check’ vote counting process to tabulate results,” Youngkin said in a statement. “Virginians can cast their ballots on Election Day knowing that Virginia’s elections are fair, secure, and free from politically motivated interference.”
Here’s how to check your registration status, and how you can still vote if you are eligible but not registered.
Who Was Removed?
Virginia argued in its case that the names removed were noncitizens who were not eligible to vote in federal elections, including some who directly disclosed noncitizen status at the DMV.
Still, some eligible voters were among those who were removed from the rolls, such as Nadra Wilson of Lynchburg, who told NPR she was removed despite being a U.S. citizen. Some voters may have been incorrectly identified as noncitizens if they checked the wrong box during registration.
Those who were identified as noncitizens were notified and given two weeks to dispute the disqualification before being removed, the Associated Press reported. If they returned the form verifying their eligibility, their registration would not be canceled.
Approximately 1,600 voter registrations were removed, beginning on August 7. That number includes 102 in Loudoun County, 293 in Fairfax County, 193 in Prince William County, 46 in Arlington County, and 82 in the City of Alexandria, VPM News reports.
Check Your Status
If you want to make sure you are still registered ahead of the general election on November 5, you can check your status online with the Virginia Department of Elections.
Under the “Check Registration Status” form, you can submit your name, jurisdiction, and the last four digits of your Social Security number to look up your voter registration. This will show you whether you are registered, where your polling place is, and other records such as your voting history.
Same-Day Registration
If you find that you are no longer registered but you are eligible to vote, you can still participate in this election because Virginia offers same-day registration.
Voters who register after October 15 will cast provisional ballots. These ballots are used by people whose names do not appear on the list of registered voters at the polling place. This means that the vote will be subject to approval by the local electoral board before it is counted, rather than being processed in a vote-counting machine at the time of the vote.
To register for a provisional ballot, you have three options:
- Visit the general registrar’s office for your locality.
- Visit your satellite early voting site, during the early voting period (through November 2).
- On Election Day (November 5), visit your polling place.
Feature image, stock.adobe.com
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