Democrats and their media allies will often insist that election fraud and illegal voting aren't a big problem, then vigorously oppose any election integrity measures proposed by Republicans to ensure things stay that way.

The latest example comes in Virginia, where the Biden-Harris administration has filed a lawsuit to block the Commonwealth from routinely removing ineligible non-citizens from its voter registration rolls, CNN reported.

The lawsuit claims that Virginia's actions violate federal law on the allowable timing of voter roll purges and could result in the unintentional removal and disenfranchisement of some otherwise eligible U.S. citizen voters.

Virginia's efforts to ensure election integrity

On August 7, 2024, roughly three months prior to November's elections, Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced an executive order that codified in state law a variety of election integrity measures that included what he described as the "best-in-the-nation voter list maintenance."

As part of a statement at that time outlining some of the election security measures, 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."

The Biden-Harris Justice Department took issue with the daily updates to the state's voter rolls, which it claimed violated a federal law that prohibits programs that "systematically remove" ineligible voters from the rolls within 90 days of an election.

Biden-Harris DOJ seeks injunction to stop Virginia's voter roll updates

"Only U.S. citizens are eligible to vote in U.S. federal elections. That fact is not in dispute, and there is no evidence of widespread noncitizen voting in the United States. But that is not what this case is about," attorneys with the Voting Section of the DOJ's Civil Rights Division wrote in the 12-page lawsuit filed on Friday.

"This case is about Section 8(c)(2) of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), also known as the Quiet Period Provision, which requires states to complete systematic programs intended to remove the names of ineligible voters from registration lists based on failure to meet initial eligibility requirements by no later than 90 days before federal elections," the suit continued.

That provision, codified in federal law as 52 U.S.C. § 20507(c)(2)(A), states: "A State shall complete, not later than 90 days prior to the date of a primary or general election for Federal office, any program the purpose of which is to systematically remove the names of ineligible voters from the official lists of eligible voters."

The filing explained, "The Quiet Period Provision helps to mitigate the risk that errors in systematic list maintenance will disenfranchise, confuse, or deter eligible voters by ensuring that they have adequate time to address errors and understand their rights."

The DOJ's lawsuit went on to allege that Gov. Youngkin's order and the daily updates of the voter rolls violated the above law and resulted in otherwise eligible voters being removed from the rolls, and urged the court to, among other things, issue an injunction to halt the state's actions and restore the canceled registration of any eligible citizens who'd been mistakenly removed.

Youngkin responds to DOJ's "politically motivated action"

In response, Gov. Youngkin said in a statement, "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."

"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," he continued. "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," the governor added.