US citizens caught in Virginia’s voter purge aimed at noncitizens speak out

(CNN) — This week the Supreme Court revived Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s effort to purge 1,600 people he says are suspected noncitizens from the state’s voter registration rolls using records from the Department of Motor Vehicles.

But the practice, critics say, is haphazard given those DMV records may not be current and can result in US citizens being removed from voter rolls.

CNN obtained access to the list of Virginia voters who were removed and called over 100. We found a variety of US citizens and noncitizens, some of whom were aware they’d been purged while others, who had not yet voted, learned the news from CNN.

Noncitizens CNN spoke with said they didn’t plan to vote and some were unsure how they were even registered.

Documented cases of noncitizens voting are extremely rare. A recent Georgia audit of the 8.2 million people on its rolls found just 20 registered noncitizens – only nine of whom had voted.

“Governor Youngkin has been clear: every eligible Virginia citizen who wants to vote can do so by Same Day Registering through Election Day—that’s what our law says,” said Youngkin spokesman Christian Martinez.

A “final failsafe,” Martinez added, is the ability for residents to use same day registration to vote early or on Election Day.

Here’s what some voters told CNN about their experiences:

‘It felt silly to me that I was removed’

18-year-old Rachel Xu, a student at George Mason University, says she became a citizen a year ago. She was not aware she had been removed from the state voter registration rolls until she was contacted by CNN. She told CNN she moved to the US from China with her family after her father got a job with the US government.

“I’m not that excited about this election but it’s my right to vote and it shouldn’t be taken away from me,” she said.

Xu said she plans to re-register and cast her ballot for Trump.

Nadra Wilson was also listed as a noncitizen and was purged from Virginia’s voter rolls. Wilson told CNN she was born in the US: “I was born in Brooklyn, New York.” The 57-year-old empty nester says she’s been voting in Virginia without any problems since 2015. She had no idea why she was purged from the voter rolls.

Wilson was able to re-register and she says she voted this week, “but I’m very concerned that this happened.”

Fatima Bashir is an 18-year-old student at Northern Virginia College studying cybersecurity. She also didn’t realize she had been purged from Virginia’s voter registration rolls until she received a call from CNN. “I’m surprised right now. Why did they take me off?” Bashir said she was born in Pakistan but became a US citizen a year ago. She is planning to vote this election for the first time. She said she is still undecided but “I have the right to vote.”

Saule Bohoney was also wiped off of Virginia’s voter registration rolls. She is a naturalized citizen born in central Asia. She became aware she had been taken off Virginia’s voter rolls after receiving mail from the state informing her.

Bohoney told CNN that she voted in the 2020 election and is still undecided but has not been able to re-register just yet, though she plans to.

“I have two kids and a full-time job, and I just haven’t had time to address this,” she said. “I felt disappointed that this happened. I am a professional working for a federal intelligence agency. So, it felt silly to me that I was removed.”

A Jill Stein voter

In Alexandria, Virginia, 21-year-old Abdullah Al Mosawa learned from a TikTok about Virginia’s voter registration purge program. He did his own research and realized he was one of the more than 1,000 individuals who had been removed from the state’s voter rolls.

“I wouldn’t say it feels great,” Al Mosawa said, after learning that he was purged because state officials falsely suspected him of being a noncitizen.

Al Mosawa grew up in Yemen and became a US citizen in 2018. This would be his first time voting in a US election.

Because his initial voter registration has been purged, Al Mosawa said he plans to re-register in order to vote for his candidate, Green Party nominee Jill Stein. “Not Trump, for sure.”

“No matter who you vote for, their party still controls them,” he said. “So I tried to go for somebody who’s a little bit different.”

As a busy business owner, he said it’s confusing and difficult to have to register again. But as a young person, he said he is excited to vote and that “it’s time to think about these problems and (elections).”

Ryan Snow, counsel with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and part of the counsel group representing the plaintiffs in the case, said voting rights groups are now focused on reaching out to voters who have been purged to confirm their eligibility and provide them with information about how to use the same day registration process.

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