By Caitlan McCormack

(CNS) – An alliance of immigrant-rights groups and the League of Women Voters in Virginia filed a federal lawsuit against the state’s Board of Elections and Attorney General Jason Miyares on Monday for what they said was a continuing illegal purge of voters.

The lawsuit claims that the state board and Miyares knowingly spearheaded a “Purge Program” that violates the 1993 National Voter Registration Act when Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed Executive Order 35 in early August, according to the lawsuit.

The signed order codified election security procedures put in place during Youngkin’s tenure, including stricter ballot safeguards, counting machine testing, and voter list management, according to a press release from the governor’s office.

The lawsuit asserts that Executive Order 35 violated the 1993 act through its requirement for the Department of Motor Vehicles to remove anyone from the state voter registration list if their license does not indicate U.S. citizenship.

Virginia has made drivers licenses available to non-citizens since Jan. 1, 2021 under HB 1211, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Drivers licenses take eight years to expire, so those who have gained citizenship since getting the license under HB 1211 can be removed from voter registration under the order.

“The right to vote is fundamental and foundational to our democracy, and states have a responsibility to ensure that eligible voters are not erroneously removed from the voter rolls. Instead, Virginia is fast-tracking removals based on faulty and outdated DMV data without doing anything to verify its accuracy,” Ryan Snow, counsel with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said in a news release.. “This purge program will disenfranchise eligible New American voters, who are disproportionately voters of color, on the eve of an election.”

Youngkin’s executive order states that the state removed 6,303 voters from the registration between January 2022 and July 2023 over flagged citizenship concerns.

The lawsuit also argues that the order violated the 90-day “quiet period” ahead of federal elections, which was a requirement built into the 1993 act.

“We feel confident in the position the Department of Elections has taken and stand ready to defend,” Attorney General spokesperson Shaun Kenney said in an email.

It’s not clear how many voters have been removed since the executive order was announced. The lawsuit claims that the Virginia Department of Elections has not provided data about its voter registration actions.