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Lawfare’s latest low found the Biden-Harris administration’s Justice Department contesting one state’s efforts to keep foreign nationals from voting.

Election integrity continued to loom large as Nov. 5 drew near and Friday, the DOJ appeared to pour gasoline on the fiery issue. In the wake of Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) signing an executive order in early August to shore up the commonwealth’s handling of the election, Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke announced a lawsuit, seemingly fighting to keep noncitizens on the rolls.

“As the National Voter Registration Act mandates, officials across the country should take heed of the law’s crystal clear and unequivocal restrictions on systematic list maintenance efforts that fall within 90 days of an election,” said the AG of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division in a statement for the press release.

“By cancelling voter registrations within 90 days of Election Day, Virginia places qualified voters in jeopardy of being removed from the rolls and creates the risk of confusion for the electorate,” she further claimed. “Congress adopted the National Voter Registration Act’s quiet period restriction to prevent error-prone, eleventh hour efforts that all too often disenfranchise qualified voters. The right to vote is the cornerstone of our democracy and the Justice Department will continue to ensure that the rights of qualified voters are protected.”

According to the suit, Virginia had removed 6,303 individuals from the rolls between Jan. 2022 and July 2024 following the process laid out in the executive order that, in addition to clearing the voter rolls, called for exclusive use of paper ballots and paper ballot counting machines, strict chain of custody, no mass mailing of ballots and round the clock monitoring of drop boxes.

Friday, Youngkin responded to the suit with his own statement that decried the Biden-Harris administration for taking a side against national sovereignty when it had been a Democrat governor who’d made the framework possible in the first place.

“With less than 30 days until the election, the Biden-Harris Department of Justice is filing an unprecedented lawsuit against me and the Commonwealth of Virginia, for appropriately enforcing a 2006 law signed by Democrat Tim Kaine that requires Virginia to remove noncitizens from the voter rolls — a process that starts with someone declaring themselves a non-citizen and then registering to vote,” said the governor in a statement. “Virginians — and Americans — will see this for exactly what it is: a desperate attempt to attack the legitimacy of the elections in the Commonwealth, the very crucible of American Democracy.”

Youngkin went on to add, “With the support of our Attorney General, we will defend these commonsense steps, that we are legally required to take, with every resource available to us. Virginia’s election will be secure and fair, and I will not stand idly by as this politically motivated action tries to interfere in our elections, period.”

Worth noting, Clarke had come under fire earlier this year when it was revealed that she had misled the Senate during her nomination hearing when she had denied ever having been arrested.

“Since becoming a legal adult,” asked Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton (R) at the time, “have you ever been arrested for or accused of committing a violent crime against any person?”

While she answered “No” during the hearing, a report revealed that in July 2006, she allegedly attacked her ex-husband and sliced his finger “to the bone” only to later have the arrest expunged from the record.

A statement to CNN explained, “Nearly 2 decades ago, I was subjected to years-long abuse and domestic violence at the hands of my ex-husband.”

“This was a terrorizing and traumatizing period that I have sought to put behind me to promote my personal health, and well-being,” she went on. “The physical and emotional scars, the emotional abuse and exploitation, and the lying are things that no woman or mother should ever have to endure.”

“When given the option to speak about such traumatic incidents in my life, I have chosen not to,” the AG offered as an excuse. “I didn’t believe during my confirmation process and I don’t believe now that I was obligated to share a fully expunged matter from my past.”

Kevin Haggerty
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