With a presidential election only days away, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to allow Virginia to remove non-citizens from its voter roll. In an amicus brief filed Monday, Drummond and a coalition of 25 other states argue that a preliminary injunction halting the state of Virginia from removing self-identified non-citizens from its rolls undermines a state’s authority to determine voter qualifications. Virginia’s law provides mechanisms to protect election integrity, while ensuring only U.S. citizens remain on voter rolls.

“Election integrity is non-negotiable,” said Drummond. “Voters across the country are already casting ballots for next week’s presidential election. It is critical that states have the authority to police voter qualifications and keep non-citizens from voting.”

The Eastern District of Virginia Court’s recent decision to temporarily stop Virginia from removing non-citizens from its rolls will result in Congress forcing a state to allow non-citizens to vote in an election over the objection of that state, the brief notes. It converts Virginia’s statute into a federal mandate that forces states to allow non-citizens to vote in an upcoming election in violation of state law – and federal law itself – when a non-citizen is discovered on the rolls within 90 days of an election.

“Non-citizens are not eligible voters. They were not eligible voters before Congress passed the National Voter Registration Act, they were not eligible when Congress passed the NVRA and they are not eligible today,” the brief states.

In addition to Oklahoma, the brief is signed by attorneys general for Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming.

To read the amicus brief, click on this link.