Virginia governor slams 'astounding' federal ruling reinstating voting rights for alleged noncitizens

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Virginia governor reacts to judge's ruling stopping state from removing citizens from voter rolls

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin reacted to the 'stunning' ruling on 'The Faulkner Focus,' explaining why the state will 'immediately' be petitioning for an injunction. 

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin slammed a federal judge's ruling ordering Virginia to reinstate potentially 1,600 noncitizens to its state voter rolls on Friday, with just 10 full days until the election.

"This is a stunning ruling by a federal judge who is ordering Virginia to reinstate individuals who have self-identified as noncitizens back on the voter rolls," Youngkin told "The Faulkner Focus" by phone shortly after the judge's decision was announced.

"What's even more astounding is that the vast majority of these folks had presented immigration documents confirming that they were noncitizens, and we recently had that verified by federal authorities," he told Fox News host Harris Faulkner. 

On Friday, U.S. Judge Patricia Giles issued a preliminary injunction to reinstate all voters who had been removed from state voter rolls in the past 90 days, after Youngkin issued an executive order in August directing state officials to identify noncitizens, who were given two weeks to dispute being disqualified before being removed from voter rolls. 

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin speaks during the Faith & Freedom Coalitions Road to Majority Policy Conference at the Washington Hilton on June 22, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

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The judge found that the removals had been "systematic," not individualized, and were thus a violation of federal law.

In issuing the injunction, Giles said there is reason to believe voters were being mistakenly removed from the rolls. 

"This process has resulted in eligible voters having their voting registration flagged," she said.

Her ruling came after the Justice Department filed a lawsuit against the State of Virginia, Virginia State Board of Elections and Virginia Commissioner of Elections on Oct. 11, saying that by removing voters from rolls too close to the Nov. 5 general election, the state had violated the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA).

Youngkin told Faulkner the ruling, which is expected to restore the voting rights to about 1,600 residents ahead of Election Day, violated common sense and the Constitution. 

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia is seen in Alexandria, Va. (Photo by Bonnie Cash/Getty Images) ((Bonnie Cash/Getty Images))

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"It's astounding to me that this could possibly happen," he said. 

The Republican governor pledged to "immediately" file an emergency petition to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals and take the legal fight all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, if necessary.

"We're not going to sit by and let this happen," he vowed.

Youngkin said they had been cleaning up their voter rolls for "years," not just the past 90 days after the executive order was issued.

"This process has been going on for years," he told Faulkner. "This is not something that just started in the 90-day window, and by the way, the 90-day window doesn't even apply because these are noncitizens who shouldn't have been on the voting rolls to begin with."

Voters fill out their ballots on Election Day.

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"They should have not been there in the first place," he continued.

Youngkin has insisted the voters were removed legally and is based on precedent from a 2006 state law enacted by then-Gov. Tim Kaine, a Democrat. 

Fox News Digital's Breanne Deppisch contributed to this report.