The Democrats are never, ever going to get over the fact that Gov. Glenn Youngkin won when he wasn’t supposed to, but that is only part of the reason they are now going after him for having the nerve to clean Virginia voter rolls of non-citizens. The other reason is abundantly clear: Virginia is far closer than it should be, and the Democrats are panicking. And when Democrats panic, lawfare is sure to follow.
As RedState has been reporting, the Biden-Harris Department of Justice is pursuing a last-minute lawsuit against Youngkin for “purging” Virginia’s voter rolls of non-citizens; our own Becca Lower put it this way: “It’s just the latest example of states trying to conduct free and fair elections, and the Biden administration standing in the way.” Sounds about right.
There are some important facts to keep in mind here. First, the potential voters in question here are people who self-identify as non-citizens and tick the box affirming that. Second, there is a failsafe in place to make sure that people who incorrectly tick the box can still vote. And, finally, and here’s where it gets interesting, this is a law that was signed by a Democrat governor, enacted by both Democrat and Republican governors, and endorsed by the DOJ.
You can see why Glenn Youngkin wonders if maybe, just maybe, something else is at play here.
Youngkin appeared Sunday on Fox News and explained the situation to host Shannon Bream:
To be clear this is not a purge, this is based on a law that was signed into effect in 2006 by then-Democrat governor Tim Kaine.
It starts with the basic premise that when someone walks in to one of our DMV’s and self-identifies as a non-citizen, and then they end up on the voter rolls – either purposely or by accident – that we go through…an individualized process, based on that person’s self-identification as a non-citizen, to give them fourteen days to affirm they are a citizen. And if they don’t, they come off the voter rolls.
And, by the way, they have one last safeguard, which is they can come and same-day register and cast a provisional ballot.
Youngkin explained that the law is “wholly consistent with the U.S. Constitution, the Virginia Constitution, and Virginia law.” That’s not all; per the governor, “We found…back in 2006, the then-Justice Department actually approved of this law, and said that ‘It is not only…constitutional, but we have given it thorough review, and we’re okay with you moving ahead with it.'”
Hm, what’s going on here, then? Why would the DOJ suddenly have a problem with this law? It’s too close for comfort for Democrats in Virginia, as Youngkin concluded:
And, now, twenty-five days before the election, the Justice Department decides they are going to bring suit after this law has been in effect eighteen years – administered by Democrat and Republican governors – and this is the reason why I believe Americans and Virginians wonder what the Justice Department is up to. It’s been in effect for eighteen years, it’s been applied universally by Republican and Democrat governors, and now, all of the sudden, when Virginia is getting tight…it launches a lawsuit against the commonwealth of Virginia when we are trying to make sure citizens vote, not non-citizens.
It’s worth a watch:
Its been 18 years since then-governor Tim Kaine signed this legislation into law, and now we’ve learned it was with the express approval of the DOJ civil rights division. Ensuring Virginia’s voter rolls do not include noncitizens is not a partisan issue — it’s constitutional,… pic.twitter.com/B721fVJkqp
— Glenn Youngkin (@GlennYoungkin) October 20, 2024
Democrats have good reason to panic. They’ve long thought that they owned Virginia, with a long string of Democrat governors and senators, but Youngkin broke their stronghold in 2021 with his victory over Dem retread Terry McAuliffe. It grinds their gears that Glenn Youngkin won, so he automatically became an enemy.
Then there’s the fact that Virginia’s early voting numbers in 2024 are showing that the GOP’s supporters are participating in greater numbers than in previous election cycles. As we reported last week, “Experts would expect to see Democrats have around a 30 percent advantage at this point, but they only hold an 11.3 percent lead.”
This, of course, doesn’t mean Republicans are cruising to victory in Virginia, but it’s clearly closer than the Democrats would like it to be. Let’s face it: If Kamala Harris and Democrats are stumbling in Virginia, home to many of the federal government’s workforce, it’s a sign of a campaign in serious trouble. Unfortunately for them, Glenn Youngkin isn’t going to sit quietly while they try to use a weaponized DOJ to rig things in their favor.
