Just weeks before Virginia’s gubernatorial election between Democrat Terry McAuliffe and Republican Ken Cuccinelli, state elections officials have announced that they have purged nearly 40,000 names from voter rolls. The Board of Elections aims to purge as many as?57,923 names. This announcement comes after the Democratic Party of Virginia filed a lawsuit to stop the planned purge. Arguments will be heard by a U.S. District Court Friday.
The Board said that voters were purged based on a database that showed voters had registered in other states. The purge was implemented by county registrars, who were told to use their ?best judgment? in removing voters. This lack of uniformity has been ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, most notably in the 2000 Bush v. Gore case. Several registrars also expressed concern over the deadlines set for the purge and a lack of time to ensure that citizens were not taken off without an adequate review.
Chesterfield County Registrar Lawrence C. Haake III conducted his own review and found that nearly 10 percent of names flagged by the Board were eligible voters.? His findings revealed that out-of-state information for these voters was as much as 10 years older than their Virginia voting history. In addition to the purge, 7,285 voters were marked “inactive,” meaning they will only be eligible to cast a provisional ballot.
Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli serves as a legal advisor to the Virginia Board of Elections. His role raises serious legal and ethical concerns, especially as it comes so close to the election and the Cuccinelli campaign trails McAuliffe by eight points in the latest polls. Since the voter registration deadline has passed, Virginia voters inaccurately purged from the rolls will be unable to correct this? injustice in time to cast a ballot unless the courts provide the means to do so.?
Edited/Published by: SB
