Civil rights groups warned of potential voter suppression ahead of Election Day

Civil rights leaders believe the ruling handed down by the Supreme Court on Wednesday could lay the framework for post-election challenges.

The high court’s conservative majority decided to block an order from a federal judge that would have returned about 1,600 people to Virginia’s registered voter count.

The men were removed under an executive order by Governor Glenn Youngkin that requires a daily purge of unidentified non-citizens from the state’s voter rolls.

The Aug. 7 executive order brought lawsuits from immigration and civil rights groups, as well as the Justice Department, all of which are accused of violating the 90-day quiet period mandated by the National Voting Rights Act of 1993.

Now, if the Supreme Court’s unsigned ruling allows the purging to continue, supporters say Virginia could become a canary in the coal mine, representing a broader effort to undermine voting rights.

Damon Hewitt, president and executive director of the nonpartisan Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, which led one of the challenges, told ABC News, “None of this activity is random. It’s all very organized, but it’s also organized with a purpose.

“They’re trying to really test the boundaries of state court and federal court appetite to enforce the NVRA,” he said.

Youngkin celebrated the Supreme Court’s decision, calling it a victory in the “critical fight to protect the fundamental rights of US citizens.”

“A clean voter roll is one important part of the comprehensive approach we take to ensure electoral fairness,” Youngkin said.

Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares called it a “victory for common sense” and important for “this idea that Virginians should decide Virginia elections.”

Civil rights groups argue that the focus on non-citizen voting is a false narrative.

“The idea of ​​people who are not legal citizens voting is an absolute myth. It’s not true,” said NAACP Senior Associate General Counsel Anthony P. Ashton. “That’s not true.”

“This has become a theme that has now been written for later narratives to try to destroy democracy, to destroy faith in the democratic process,” he said.

Among the voters removed in the purge were naturalized citizens who had voted in elections within the past 30 years, according to Ryan Snow, a litigator with the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

Other supporters say some US citizens, including Puerto Rican-born voters, are also disenfranchised.

U.S. District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles, whose recall order was blocked Wednesday by the Supreme Court, acknowledged the uncertainty of each voter’s actual citizenship status cleared in her ruling, asking, “How many are there?”

Hans von Spakovsky, manager of the Legacy Election Law Reform Initiative, a senior legal member and former commissioner of the Federal Election Commission, called the high court’s move “a significant victory for electoral integrity.”

“States should take this action from the Supreme Court as confirmation that they can clean their voter rolls,” he said. state to remain registered on the voter register in violation of federal law.”

NAACP President Derrick Johnson, however, criticized the lawsuit, calling it an attempt to “undermine public confidence in the entire democratic process.”

“The voter purge here is a textbook example of voter suppression and intimidation,” he said. “The people behind the false accusations surrounding the commonwealth case seek to intimidate their supposed constituents by blowing xenophobic and racist dog whistles.”

Nationally, civil rights leaders have signaled since 2020 that voters of color, especially black voters, are more likely to be the target of voter challenges, especially in battleground states like Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.

Ezra Rosenberg, co-director of the Lawyers Committee for the Civil Rights Voting Project, told ABC News that the voter challenges in Georgia counties such as Fulton and DeKalb, which have large Black populations, were not a coincidence.

“There are dozens and dozens of mass voter challenge lawsuits that were filed, and they were all filed at the same time, about 30 days before the election, based on information that even according to the requests made. for months and months and months before,” said Rosenberg.

“You have to ask yourself, if this is so important for electoral purposes and integrity, why did they wait until the last minute?” he asked, before replying: “What they’re playing is supporting a new, new lie, if they need it.”

NAACP General Counsel Janette McCarthy-Wallace told ABC News in a statement that the nation’s oldest civil rights organization is fighting for free and fair elections in 10 legal battles across the US.

“Make no mistake — across the country, certain state officials are trying to lay the legal groundwork that will be used to justify false claims of election fraud during and after the election,” McCarthy-Wallace said.

He vowed to continue fighting post-election, adding, “We cannot stop because laws are being manipulated to help democracy and silence the voices of our communities.”

Advocates warned that they are concerned about the Supreme Court’s decision causing confusion as voters vote in Virginia — and across the country.

Wendy Weiser, vice president for democracy at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law, warned, “The Supreme Court has injected confusion into elections. This stay will result in eligible Virginians being purged from the voter rolls before the election – all in a conspiracy theory.”

However, for the first time in the presidential election, Virginia voters can register on the same day through November 5. This means that voters who believe that they were improperly removed will be able to cast a provisional ballot on Election Day.

Even Youngkin approves of that approach.

“We have the main protection, which is that you can come the same day, and you can register the same day and cast your provisional ballot,” the governor said. State and in the Commonwealth of Virginia.”

T. Michelle Murphy contributed to this report.