They don’t call it “October Surprise” for nothing. The term, which describes an unexpected political event or revelation before the presidential election that can influence the election, is playing out in Virginia. Virginia’s NAACP chapter is now responding to the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision to reinstate the Commonwealth’s controversial purge of at least 1,610 voters from its voter rolls.
According to Virginia leaders, the purge removes people who are allegedly not American citizens. It’s illegal for noncitizens to vote in U.S. federal elections. Still, as President Joe Biden and leaders of Virginia’s NAACP chapter point out, some people purged from the rolls are U.S. citizens.
Leaders with Virginia’s Chapter of NAACP say the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to reinstate Virginia’s purge is a form of voter suppression.
“There’s an attempt to suppress the vote, to make it harder for people to vote, but also to create a narrative,” Virginia NAACP leaders said on the call. “On top of that, [the move] discourages people to make voters feel like it doesn’t matter that they’re voting.”
Virginia NAACP leaders met with journalists on Wednesday to discuss their readiness to fight back, specifically on Election Day.
The Virginia Chapter of the NAACP says it will have at least 150 volunteer lawyers nationwide and other voting rights advocates working around the country to monitor and immediately respond to potential challenges on Election Day.
What We Know About The 1,600 Voters
Virginia NAACP leaders said in the call that at least 100 of the 1,600 voters purged from voter rolls are from Prince William County. There’s a tight race in Virginia’s 7th Congressional District between Democrat Eugene Vindman and Republican Derrick Anderson.
“Prince William, like many other locales within the Commonwealth who have early voting and specifically Sunday voting, has had turnout in record numbers as compared to previous years,” NAACP leaders said on the call. “One of the concerns is that some of those affected, even the 100 that have been already identified in Prince William [County] or those who may now be subjected to having their names removed now that the Supreme Court has made this decision, will have a negative impact on their ability to vote here.”
What remains unclear at this time is how many of the 1,600 voters identify as communities of color, but the numbers could be revealed later.
“This administration absolutely knew, based upon their previous actions, that some of the people that would be negatively impacted were, in fact, legally registered voters, and they don’t care,” a Virginia NAACP leader stated.
“This won’t sway us,” another NAACP leader said. “We will provide the necessary resources to those affected to make sure that they understand how they can still cast their vote, but also continue to work to get everybody out to the polls. This is a public showing that we control the ballot.”
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