Virginia AG Launches Voter Protection Unit Ahead of Midterm Elections

Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones on Tuesday announced a new Voter Protection Section, creating a team of dedicated lawyers to investigate voting rights violations and enforce state election laws three weeks before the Nov. 3 midterm elections.

The section will investigate improper voter registration cancellations, absentee ballot denials, voter intimidation and interference with election administration.

Jones, a Democrat, said the moves come as federal voting rights protections face challenges and President Donald Trump’s administration seeks greater control of how states conduct elections.

Early voting is underway in Virginia, where a recent court battle has kept new federal restrictions pushed by Trump on mail ballots from taking effect this fall.

“This work now has a permanent home, and a team focused every day on defending voting rights and enforcing Virginia law,” Jones said in a statement. “Virginia votes every year, and protecting the franchise must be a year-round responsibility. In Virginia, the right to vote will be defended.”

Ajay Saini, who will lead the section, said its attorneys will review proposed election changes and investigate complaints involving discriminatory redistricting, polling place changes and language access. The section will also address barriers facing voters with disabilities, students and military personnel.

Saini said his team would coordinate with the Virginia Department of Elections and the attorney general’s Federal Accountability Unit.

“At a time when the Trump administration has sought to push the federal government further into the administration of state elections, we will work … to protect Virginia’s authority, the integrity of our elections, and every eligible voter’s right to be heard,” he said.

The announcement did not specify the section’s staffing, budget, or how voters could submit complaints.

The unit’s central responsibility will be to enforce the Virginia Voting Rights Act, which lawmakers passed in 2021 to prohibit election practices that discriminate based on race, color, or membership in a language minority group.

Then-state Sen. Jennifer McClellan, now a Democratic congresswoman representing Richmond, helped lead passage of the law, making Virginia the first Southern state to establish its own voting rights act.

The legislation followed years of reduced federal oversight after the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2013 ruling in Shelby County v. Holder, which struck down the formula determining which states and localities needed federal approval before changing election rules. Virginia had been subject to that requirement.

Another Supreme Court decision this May raised concerns among Virginia Democrats and civil rights advocates. In Louisiana v. Callais, the justices rejected Louisiana’s second Black-majority congressional district, prompting warnings about the erosion of minority representation in other states.

Virginia’s law requires local governments to provide public notice and an opportunity for comment before making certain election changes. Voters can challenge those changes in court, or localities can seek certification from the attorney general that the changes do not violate the law.

The requirements cover redistricting, polling place relocations and consolidations, restrictions on language assistance, and changes to how governing bodies and local school boards are elected.

The new section’s focus on registration cancellations follows a dispute during Virginia’s 2024 presidential election, when then-Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration removed about 1,600 people from voter rolls under a program intended to identify non-citizens.

Voting rights organizations challenged those removals after eligible citizens reported their Department of Motor Vehicles records contained errors that raised questions about their citizenship.

A federal court ordered the registrations restored, but the Supreme Court blocked that order after then-Attorney General Jason Miyares appealed that decision. Some affected voters corrected their registrations through local elections offices, and same-day registration offered another day to cast ballots.

More recently, Virginia joined other states in challenging federal restrictions on mail voting.

A March 31 executive order from Trump directed the U.S. Postal Service to stop transmitting mail ballots to voters who were not on a federally controlled list.

A subsequent postal rule would have required states to register eligible mail voters with the agency and submit ballot envelope designs for approval.

In September, the Supreme Court allowed an injunction blocking the rule to remain in effect, leaving Virginia’s existing mail-voting procedures in place for November.

Jones subsequently encouraged Virginians to use mail ballots, drop boxes, and early voting.

The attorney general, who is Black, also spoke about the personal significance of voting rights enforcement.

“I was raised by people who understood that the right to vote was never simply given. Generations of Americans had to sacrifice, organize, and show extraordinary courage to claim that right,” Jones said. “That history is personal to me, and it reminds us that the work of civil rights and voting rights is never finished.”

By Markus Schmidt, Virginia Mercury

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