Florida Lends Assist to Virginia in U.S. Supreme Court Fight for Ability to Maintain Integrity of State Voter Rolls

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—Attorney General Ashley Moody and state attorneys general from 24 other states are filing an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court of the United States to allow Virginia to remove noncitizens from state voter rolls.

Attorney General Ashley Moody said, “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 argues that a preliminary injunction halting the state of Virginia from removing self-identified noncitizens from its rolls undermines a state’s authority to determine voter qualifications. Virginia’s law provides mechanisms 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,” the amicus brief reads.

The Eastern District of Virginia Court’s recent decision to temporarily stop Virginia from removing noncitizens from its rolls would result in the federal government forcing a state to allow noncitizens to vote in an election over the objection of that state.

It would convert Virginia’s statute into a federal mandate that forces states to allow noncitizens to vote in an upcoming election in violation of state law and federal law itself when a noncitizen is discovered on the rolls within 90 days of an election, according to the brief.

“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,” the amicus reads. Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach submitted the brief to SCOTUS.

In addition to Florida and Kansas, attorneys general from 23 other states joined the brief. Among the states are 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.
 
To read the amicus brief, click here.

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