TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—Attorney General Ashley Moody, along with attorneys general from 24 other states, has filed an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to allow Virginia to remove noncitizens from its voter rolls.
Attorney General Ashley Moody stated, “States have a duty to maintain their voter rolls to ensure that only American citizens are able to vote. Virginia is trying to remove voters who have self-identified as noncitizens and yet the Biden-Harris administration is aggressively pushing back seemingly in favor of allowing noncitizens to vote in this upcoming election. I, along with 24 of my colleagues, took action to support Virginia in their fight against the administration to maintain the integrity of their elections.”
The brief contends that a preliminary injunction stopping Virginia from removing self-identified noncitizens undermines a state's authority to determine voter qualifications. According to Virginia's law, there are mechanisms in place to protect election integrity while ensuring only U.S. citizens remain on voter rolls.
“The upcoming election is hotly contested and has caused division around the country. Perhaps the division would be lower if the federal government were not interfering with the election via last-minute attacks on state efforts to police voter qualifications,” states the amicus brief.
A recent decision by the Eastern District of Virginia Court temporarily stopped Virginia from removing noncitizens from its rolls. The brief argues that this decision could result in forcing a state to allow noncitizens to vote over its objections.
It claims that this would turn Virginia’s statute into a federal mandate requiring states to allow noncitizens to vote when discovered within 90 days of an election, violating both state and federal laws.
“Non-citizens are not eligible voters. They were not eligible voters before Congress passed the National Voter Registration Act, they were not eligible when Congress passed the NVRA, and they are not eligible today,” reads the amicus submitted by Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach.
Besides Florida and Kansas, attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming joined the brief.