Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

As you may recall, Governor Youngkin filed Executive Order #35 in August to secure Virginia’s elections. The order protects the casting of legal ballots by legally eligible voters in our state’s elections.

Of course, this seems like common sense to most of us. Still, just days ago, the Biden-Harris Dept of Justice filed an unprecedented, politically motivated lawsuit against the Youngkin Administration and the Commonwealth of Virginia because of our efforts to stop illegals from voting here.

The fact is, the Governor is making sure a Virginia law is being enforced, which was signed by then-Governor Tim Kaine in 2006, and has been in effect ever since. This law requires Virginia to remove noncitizens from the voter rolls. The process by which we know that a person is a non-citizen starts when they check a box at the DMV that states they are not a citizen.

Once they check the box stating they are not a US citizen, the State Board of Elections is notified. The local registrar then notifies the individual that they must submit a statement affirming they are a US citizen within 14 days to avoid the cancellation of their registration.

Once removed, the individual receives a second letter to inform them of their cancellation. Then, they still have the option to use same-day registration and cast a provisional ballot on Election Day. This shows that we don’t just take their names off in some systematic process but one with many safeguards.

Since August, there has been plenty of time to object to the Executive Order if the Biden-Harris Administration thought we were doing something wrong. But now that we are less than 30 days away from the election, they realize that Virginia has the potential to win for Trump and our other key races, and they are doing everything they can to make sure that doesn’t happen.

The U.S. and Virginia constitutions, as well as state and federal laws, prohibit noncitizens from voting. As a Virginia Senator, I took an oath to uphold the Constitution and take that oath very seriously. I believe Virginia will prevail based on merit and substance in this politically motivated lawsuit. We are doing everything we can here in Virginia to make sure only US citizens can vote in our elections.

Tammy Mulchi serves as the District 9 state senator. She can be reached at senatormulchi@senate.virginia.gov or by calling 804-698-7509.