October 30, 2024
SCOTUS Lets VA Purge Voter Rolls
The Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision along ideological lines, allowed Virginia to follow through with a plan to purge voter rolls of around 1,600 people. The executive order, signed by Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin, which aimed to remove noncitizens from the state’s voter rolls, had been struck down by both a federal district court as well as the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, given that it seemed to violate the 1993 National Voter Registration Act. The NVRA prohibits any “systematic” removal of “ineligible voters” during a “quiet period” of 90 days before a federal election. Moreover, the order inadvertently removed eligible voters, as reported by NPR.
However, the conservative majority of the Supreme Court sided with Youngkin, contending that the lower courts “misinterpreted the NVRA”. In their majority opinion, they wrote that the “quiet period” didn’t apply to noncitizens, and that the program was “sufficiently individualized” and not “systematic”. Fortunately for any more people who find themselves disenfranchised, Virginia allows in-person voter registration all the way up to and including Election Day, so they can re-register to vote.
Biden Verbal Flub Mutes Harris’s Closing Statement
Vice President Kamala Harris’s “closing argument” rally at the White House Ellipse last night was supposed to be the big story of the day. Unfortunately, during an evening call to rally Latino voters, President Joe Biden — who is well known for having a stutter and occasional verbal flubs — made a statement that has been seized on by Republicans as the 2024 version of Hillary Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” comment, and stolen some of Harris’s thunder.
Biden was speaking in relation to a “joke” by Tony Hinchcliffe at a rally for former President Donald Trump on Sunday, where he referred to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage”. Biden responded with, per the official White House transcript of the speech, “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporter’s — his — his — his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American.” The Trump campaign, on the other hand, reinterpreted the message as “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters,” insisting that Biden was trashing (pun intended) anyone who votes for Trump. Biden did issue a statement later in the evening that his reference was indeed in relation to Hinchcliffe.
(Editor’s note: As someone else who deals with a stutter, I find it disheartening to see the Trump campaign once again seizing on the President’s speech impediment as a means of criticizing the administration. This is particularly galling given that their man in charge repeatedly says things that are much worse about his opponents, with no corrections or apologies.)
PA Counties Struggling to Process Voter Registration Forms
Both York and Lancaster County election officials have been working hard at processing a sudden glut of voter registration forms that were received just before the deadline. Some of the received forms have been deemed “suspicious”, with a variety of inaccuracies, including names not matching social security information, inconsistent signatures, and more. Interestingly, the suspected fraudulent applications didn’t seem to favor one party over another.
Both local Boards of Elections and District Attorney offices have assured the public that the forms are being reviewed and that investigations into the matter are ongoing. The Pennsylvania Department of State is also aware of the situations, and has applauded the efforts of election staff who spotted the potentially problematic applications, stating that no eligible voter will be denied the ability to register.
The Trump campaign has seized on the situation, decrying it as evidence that Democrats are planning on cheating. Both Trump and the Pennsylvania Freedom Caucus have made statements that the counties have uncovered “thousands” of suspected fraudulent registrations, which misrepresents that actual number of forms under review.
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