US citizens caught up in Virginia voter purge targeting non-citizens speak out

CNN
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The Supreme Court this week revived Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Yankin’s attempt to remove 1,600 people he says are suspected noncitizens from the state’s voter registration rolls using Department of Motor Vehicle records.

But the practice, critics say, is haphazard because DMV records may be out of date and could result in U.S. citizens being removed from the voter rolls.

CNN obtained access to a list of Virginia voters who were deleted and more than 100 people called them. We found scores of US citizens and non-citizens, some of whom knew they had been removed, while others who had not yet voted learned about it from CNN.

Noncitizens CNN spoke with said they had no plans to vote, and some weren’t even sure how they were registered.

Documented cases of non-citizens voting are extremely rare. A recent audit in Georgia of the 8.2 million people on the rolls found only 20 registered noncitizens—only nine of whom voted.

“Governor Youngkin has made it clear: Every eligible Virginian who wants to vote can do so by registering the same day before Election Day—that’s what our law says,” Youngkin spokesman Christian Martinez said.

“The last resort,” 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:

Rachel Xu, 18, a student at George Mason University, said she became a citizen a year ago. She didn’t know she had been removed from the state’s voter rolls until CNN contacted her. She told CNN that she moved to the US from China with her family after her father took a job with the US government.

“I’m not thrilled 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 vote for Trump.

Nadra Wilson was also listed as a noncitizen and was removed 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 removed from the voter lists.

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

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

Saule Bohoni was also removed from Virginia’s voter rolls. She is a naturalized citizen born in Central Asia. She learned she had been removed from Virginia’s voter rolls after receiving a notification letter from the state.

Bohoni told CNN that she voted in the 2020 election and is undecided, but has not yet been able to re-register, although she plans to do so.

“I have two kids and a full-time job, and I just don’t have time to do this,” she said. “I was disappointed that this happened. I am a professional working for a federal intelligence agency. So I thought it was stupid that I was removed.”

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

“I wouldn’t say it’s great,” Al Mosawa said after learning he was removed from office because government officials falsely suspected he was a noncitizen.

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

Since his initial voter registration was cancelled, Al Mosawa said he plans to re-register to vote for his candidate, Green Party candidate Jill Stein. “Not Trump, of course.”

“No matter who you vote for, their party still controls them,” he said. “So I tried to find someone who was a little different.”

As a busy business owner, he said registering again is confusing and difficult. But as a young man, he said he was looking forward to voting and that “it’s time to think about these issues and (the election).”

Ryan Snow, counsel for the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and part of the team of attorneys representing plaintiffs in the case, said voting rights groups are now focused on contacting voters who were purged to confirm their right to vote. and provide them with information on how to use the same-day registration process.