Purging voters: Inside Republican efforts to restrict 2024 election vote

On Wednesday, the United States Supreme Court’s conservative majority gave the Republicans a win, voting to uphold Virginia’s efforts to purge voters less than a week before the 2024 election.

A federal judge had previously found that Virginia had illegally purged 16,000 voter registrations over the previous two months, however, the Supreme Court granted the largely Democratic-voting state’s Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin an emergency appeal this week. A coalition of independent groups, including the US Department of Justice, had previously sued the state for violating federal election law, arguing the efforts were stripping eligible voters of their right to vote.

Youngkin said voters who believe they were improperly removed from the rolls can still vote in the election because Virginia has same-day registration.

“There is the ultimate, ultimate safeguard in Virginia, no one is being precluded from voting, and therefore, I encourage every single citizen – go vote,” Youngkin told reporters.

On social media, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump had previously blasted the Virginia court’s initial ruling as a  “totally unacceptable travesty.” “Only US Citizens should be allowed to vote,” the former president added.

The legal win, which comes as Trump and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris duke it out in the dying days of their respective campaigns, represents a broader strategy by the GOP to tighten voting regulations across key states, including Arizona, Michigan, and Nevada.

A privacy booth is seen at a polling station located in the Baltimore City Community College (BCCC) Gymnasium in Baltimore, during early voting in Maryland, US, October 26, 2020 [File: Hannah McKay/Reuters]

Why is this happening? 

Across the country, the GOP is targeting voter rolls and absentee ballots, and also monitoring elections. It says this is an attempt to ensure that the election is fair, but its opponents say these are actually attempts to suppress the vote.

The Republican focus on election-related legal battles dates back to lingering distrust from the 2020 presidential election. Former President Trump’s false claims that the election was stolen have fuelled enduring scepticism within the party, where a significant number of GOP voters continue to believe in election fraud without substantial evidence. These lawsuits have become a strategy not just for election integrity but for appealing to a base that feels disenfranchised by the previous electoral outcome.

How and where else is the GOP challenging the vote?

In recent months, Republicans have launched lawsuits in multiple battleground states challenging voting access in attempts to purportedly boost election integrity and oversight.

This strategy includes lawsuits aimed at purging suspected non-citizens from voter rolls, restricting the votes of convicted felons, contesting absentee ballot processing, and challenging election worker protections.

The results have been mixed. In Alabama, a federal judge ordered Republicans to stop attempting to purge the voter rolls. In Nebraska, another judge upheld the right to vote for those who have completed their felony sentences. And in Georgia, a court declared new rules unconstitutional that would have allowed election results to be more easily contested.

A person previously convicted of a felony holds a sign about voter suppression during a Poor People’s Campaign assembly, April 19, 2021, in Jackson, Mississippi [File: Rogelio V. Solis/AP Photo]

Here’s a breakdown of what’s happening in some other states:

Nevada: Republicans, including Trump-aligned groups, unsuccessfully filed lawsuits challenging voter registration procedures, which sought to remove alleged non-citizens from Nevada’s voter rolls. These legal efforts focused on specific matches between the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles records and current voter rolls.

Republicans argued, without evidence, that voters with addresses flagged in a national database may have mail ballots sent to addresses where others could fill them out on their behalf.

The move could have potentially axed 19,000 registered voters from Clark County and an additional 11,000 in Washoe County, according to the ACLU of Nevada, which filed a motion to intervene in the lawsuit. Republicans have abandoned the effort after the ACLU and others raised technical objections, Nevada Public Radio reported.

Arizona: Several lawsuits backed by GOP and conservative groups also challenged Arizona’s election procedures, including absentee ballot handling and voter roll management, aiming to enforce stricter eligibility standards for voting.

In May, a Maricopa County judge in Arizona dismissed portions of a GOP-led lawsuit challenging the revised state Elections Procedures Manual, citing concerns that some elements of the lawsuit might lead to voter intimidation.

North Carolina: A Republican National Committee (RNC) legal effort aiming to purge 225,000 voters in the state, alleging issues with voter registration accuracy, stalled after the state’s Board of Elections won an appeal that will keep the litigation in federal court.

The lawsuit, filed in late August, demanded the court make the state’s Board of Elections formulate a strategy to remove those voters from the rolls by September 6, despite federal law barring the systematic purging of voters 90 days before an election, according to the Carolina Journal.

The North Carolina State Board of Elections has criticised the GOP efforts as baseless, arguing the timing could cause confusion and disruptions on Election Day. Republicans also argued that ballots with improperly sealed envelopes should be excluded, targeting absentee voting, which has favoured Democrats in previous elections.

North Carolina elections officials claim they’ve removed 750,000 ineligible voters from voter rolls since the beginning of 2023. The state has 7.7 million registered voters.

Michigan: Republicans in Michigan have challenged absentee ballot verification processes, arguing for stricter enforcement, with ongoing court proceedings to clarify standards. The GOP also sued the state’s Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson over guidance on absentee ballot verification, claiming it lacked proper enforcement detail.

Last week, however, a federal judge tossed a lawsuit that targeted the state’s voter roles out. In another case, a state judge reversed a Republican challenge of a tiny number of voter registrations by military and overseas voters, according to the Detroit Free Press. The RNC could potentially appeal the ruling.

Supporters of Democratic presidential nominee US Vice President Kamala Harris’s at a campaign event on the National Mall one week before the November 5 US presidential election, in Washington, US [Leah Millis/Reuters]

How could it backfire?

It’s a gamble. Eleventh-hour voter roll purges can create confusion, foster distrust, and potentially disenfranchise eligible voters.

Republicans risk also disenfranchising their own base with such aggressive purges, especially when the evidence of potential fraud is largely non-existent. Those who move often, have incomplete registration information, military personnel, the elderly and rural citizens could all possibly be disenfranchised by such efforts.

Such legal strategies also further degrade public trust in the electoral system, driving down voter turnout, and could potentially further alienate swing voters who value democratic processes.