By Mike Davis via Daily Caller News Foundation | November 04, 2024
We have reached the final days of this grueling election cycle, and President Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are barnstorming battleground states trying to scrounge up every last vote. Legal barnstorming is also occurring, as both sides are attempting to seize the advantage in the election litigation field. The Supreme Court just struck an important blow for election integrity, issuing an order allowing Virginia to remove some 1,600 non-citizens from its voter rolls.
In federal elections, naturally, only American citizens can register to vote and vote. A non-citizen who registers to vote or votes in a federal election (i.e., for president, vice president, senator or representative) commits a federal felony. Beyond the imprisonment and fine for these separate felonies for registering and voting in federal elections, a non-citizen voter can get deported from the United States. The severe consequences are justified, as illegal votes cancel out lawful ones. Every lawful vote should count, every unlawful vote should not and anyone who illegally votes should face severe penalties. Unlawful voting — and not, contrary to leftist nonsense, President Trump — imperils our democracy.
In 2006, the Commonwealth of Virginia passed a law to enhance voting security. Signed by then-Governor (and now Democrat U.S. Senator and former V.P. pick for Hillary Clinton) Tim Kaine, the law established a purging process for Virginia’s rolls to remove noncitizens. The Justice Department approved the law, and it has functioned well for nearly two decades. In 2024, Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin led another such purge that resulted in the removal of about 1,600 voters. Individuals were removed who, for example, had identified themselves as noncitizens on driving forms and then registered to vote.
Not even a month before the election, the Biden Justice Department sued Virginia, a swing state, over this purge. The Justice Department claimed that the purge violated the so-called quiet period 90 days before an election under the National Voter Registration Act. It is hard to fathom that Congress could have intended to prevent states from removing people who are prohibited by federal criminal law from voting and who could face prison and even deportation for such conduct. Nevertheless, Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles, an appointee of President Biden, stopped Virginia’s purge and ordered the re-enrollment of the removed voters. As such, the the illegal votes of noncitizens could cancel out the lawful votes of American citizens, potentially altering the outcome of the presidential election. Governor Youngkin and Attorney General Jason Miyares took the case to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, a leftist court. The Fourth Circuit ruled against them, but as discussed above, the Supreme Court just issued an order staying the District Court’s injunction and allowing Virginia to move forward.
Non-citizen voting is not the only front in the battle for election integrity. For those of us old enough to remember when Election Day was Election Day, everyone except the military and those with legitimate excuses voted, and the votes were counted that day. In 2 U.S.C. § 7, Congress established Election Day as the first Tuesday in November, except when Tuesday falls on November 1. A recent and disturbing trend has emerged, however, in which states grant so-called grace periods to voters. Voters can postmark their ballots by Election Day, and the ballots will count so long as they arrive within a certain number of days after the election. The District of Columbia and approximately 20 states have these laws. That is why California takes several weeks to count its millions of ballots, struggling to finish in time to certify for the Electoral College.
Mississippi has a five-day grace period. Republicans challenged it, arguing that Election Day means Election Day. Votes must be received by that day and no later, they asserted. An excellent panel of potential Supreme Court candidates — Judges Kyle Duncan, James Ho and Andrew Oldham — agreed, holding that ballots received after Election Day cannot count. This ruling potentially could impact the close race between Republican Sen. Ted Cruz and Democratic Rep. Colin Allred in Texas, a state within the jurisdiction of the Fifth Circuit.
Election Day means what it says. The Supreme Court should follow up on its order in the Virginia case by putting an end to the practice of receiving and counting ballots after Election Day. This would go a long way towards restoring people’s faith in the integrity of our elections. While leftists would howl that such a ruling would constitute a threat to democracy, it would in fact strengthen it.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller.
Mike Davis is the Founder and President of the Article III Project.
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