Virginia's Fairfax County Cancels Voter Registrations Of Non-Citizens After Thousands Identified State-Wide

On Wednesday, election officials in Fairfax County, Virginia, identified nearly a hundred non-citizens with active voter registrations as the 2024 presidential race enters its final stretch and after Virginia, a state that has historically leaned Democrat but has become more Republican in recent years has already had weeks of early voting. 

According to ABC7 News, Fairfax County officials revealed this week that they have canceled 98 non-citizens from the county voter rolls and have referred the cases to Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney Steve Descano (D-VA) and Attorney General Jason Miyares (R-VA). After being confronted with the information, the Fairfax County Commonwealth attorney, a Democrat, said that he did not agree that the non-citizens violated election law. "It is our hope that your office can provide additional information as to what election law violations you believe may have occurred and any records or documents that might be relevant to showing these violations. We certainly appreciate your assistance in this matter and look forward to hearing from you," Descano wrote in a letter to the Fairfax County General Registrar.

The decision to remove non-citizens from the voter rolls comes after Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) issued an executive order mandating the practice back in August. In his letter, the governor explained that 6,303 non-citizens had been identified to be on the voter rolls in the state. As previously reported by the DC Enquirer, Governor Youngkin's executive order mandates several reforms, including a documented chain of custody to track ballots throughout the process, using only paper ballots that would be counted by machines that weren't connected to the internet, and using DMV data to verify voter identity. The governor also ordered Virginia's Department of Elections to remove any non-citizens from the voter rolls who may have purposefully or accidentally been registered to vote.

"The Virginia model for Election Security works. This isn't a Democrat or Republican issue, it's an American and Virginian issue," Youngkin said in a statement. "Every legal vote deserves to be counted without being watered down by illegal votes or inaccurate machines. In Virginia, we don't play games, and our model for election security is working."

"We use 100% paper ballots with a strict chain of custody. We use counting machines, not voting machines, that are tested prior to every election and never connected to the internet. We do not mass-mail ballots. We monitor our drop boxes 24/7," Youngkin said. "We verify the legal presence and identity of voters using DMV data and other trusted data sources to update our voter rolls daily, not only adding new voters, but scrubbing the lists to remove those that should not be on it, like the deceased, individuals that have moved, and non-citizens that have accidentally or maliciously attempted to register." 

After issuing the executive order, however, the Department of Justice sued Virginia for trying to remove non-citizens from the rolls. The department argued that the state violated the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA), requiring changes to voter registration lists not to be made 90 days before Election Day. Despite the lawsuit, election officials in the Old Dominion state are taking action to ensure non-citizens aren't influencing the state's elections.

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