The move comes as Republicans increasingly emphasise the chance of noncitizen voting, despite little evidence of any significant risk posed.
The United States Justice Department has sued Virginia for removing voters from registration rolls too close to the presidential election on November 5.
The lawsuit, filed on Friday, comes in response to an executive order issued in August by Virginia’s Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin.
It initiated the removal of individuals from voter registration rolls if officials are “unable to verify that they are citizens” through the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles.
But the Justice Department says the executive order was issued with too little time before election day, violating a 90-day “quiet period” outlined in The National Voter Registration Act.
That period requires official systematic removals at least three months ahead of a federal vote.
“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,” Assistant US Attorney General Kristen Clarke said in a statement.
“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.”
Youngkin had issued his order on August 7, which marked 90 days until the election. In a statement on Friday, the governor argued the executive order fell within the law.
“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 said.
He pledged state authorities “will defend these common-sense 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,” Youngkin said.
Republicans and allies of former President Donald Trump – the current Republican candidate for the presidency – have increasingly pushed unfounded claims of possible election malfeasance ahead of this year’s vote.
Those claims echo falsehoods spread about the 2020 election, which Trump has continued to falsely say was “stolen” through fraud.
Some Republican officials have also advanced baseless claims that noncitizens are voting in large enough numbers to affect the outcome. In the US, only citizens can vote.
Most voter administration is determined by state officials and legislatures, with only broad parameters from the federal government. Nearly all US states require some form of voter registration to cast a ballot, although many allow the registration to be done on election day.
Ahead of the 2024 elections, several states – including Texas, Tennessee, Ohio and Alabama – have passed measures requiring higher burdens of proof to show a voter’s citizenship. Democracy monitors said those efforts may disenfranchise US citizens who are otherwise eligible to vote.
The Brennan Center for Justice – a non-partisan policy organisation – found that noncitizen voting in the US is exceedingly rare. There is no evidence it had any bearing on recent elections.
In 2017, the centre released a study looking at 23.5 million votes cast in the 2016 general election.
Only 30 votes were flagged for suspected noncitizen voting. Data was not available on how many of those votes proved to have been cast by noncitizens.