The Justice Department issued a warning to states Monday to tread lightly in trying to clean up their election systems of bogus names and ineligible voters, firing a shot across the bow of GOP-led states that have been trying to erase noncitizens from their rolls.
Department officials also released a web video pleading with people to come forward with stories if they think they have been “improperly” removed.
In new guidance to states, the department said federal law allows states to clean their rolls, but it must be done within strict guidelines and only for approved reasons such as a voter has moved out of the jurisdiction, has died or has requested removal.
Someone who has been inactive can be removed only after being notified and failing to show up for two more federal elections.
Changes cannot be made too close to an election.
“As we approach Election Day, it is important that states adhere to all aspects of federal law that safeguard the rights of eligible voters to remain on the active voter lists and to vote free from discrimination and intimidation,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, who heads the department’s Civil Rights Division.
The warning is chiefly a restatement of the Justice Department’s interpretation of federal law. But the timing suggests an effort to push back against Republican-led states that have in recent weeks announced the removal of noncitizen names from their rolls.
It also comes as Republicans in Congress have signaled they’ll move to attach language discouraging noncitizen voting to the looming stopgap spending bill to keep the government open into the next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.
Republicans are trying to connect two GOP issues — voting irregularities and the surge of illegal immigrants under President Biden.
Voting rights groups argue that noncitizen voting is rare.
Republican state officials, though, say they’re finding plenty of evidence noncitizens have signed up.
Virginia said it removed 6,303 names of noncitizens from its rolls.
Texas, meanwhile, says it has culled 6,500 “potential noncitizens” from its rolls since 2021. That’s part of a broader purge of 1.1 million names, including 457,000 dead people, 463,000 inactive people, 65,000 who didn’t respond to notices and 134,000 who said they had moved.
Of the noncitizens, Texas said 1,930 had voted in elections before.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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