In an Oct. 25 interview with Joe Rogan on his podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience,” 2024 Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump claimed thousands of illegal ballots have been cast in Virginia.
🚨 Donald Trump praising @GovernorVA before claiming that thousands of illegal ballots have been cast in Virginia.
Trump: “So, we have a case [in Virginia] where they found thousands of illegal ballots. A judge just ruled they have to be able to vote… A judge just ruled you… https://t.co/4YVzSUxiZl pic.twitter.com/uFouz0Zw3t
— Virginia Political Memes (@VApoliticalmeme) October 26, 2024
Verdict: Misleading
1,600 voters were removed from the voter rolls for being suspected non-citizens. There is no evidence these voters all cast ballots or that Virginia found “thousands of illegal ballots.”
Fact Check:
A new ABC/Ipsos poll places 2024 Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris ahead of Trump among likely voters at 51% to 47%, while a recent Emerson College poll shows the two candidates are tied at 49%, according to Forbes.
During the Oct. 25 interview, Trump claimed thousands of illegal ballots have been cast in Virginia.
“He’s doing a very good job in Virginia, [Republican Gov.] Glenn Youngkin. I don’t know if you like him,” Trump said while speaking with Rogan. “So we have a case [in Virginia] where they found thousands of illegal ballots. A judge just ruled that they have to be able to vote, just happened today right before I walked in here, I heard. Uh, a judge just ruled that you have to keep those people in. They’re illegal, they’re illegal votes. Now I think they’ll be overturned at the next court,” the former President added.
The claim is misleading. On Aug. 7, 2024, Youngkin issued Executive Order 35, or “Comprehensive Election Security Protecting Legal Voters And Accurate Counting.” The executive order establishes multiple measures designed to uphold election security in Virginia, including removing non-citizens from existing voter rolls.
Upon completing a voter registration application, non-citizens are identified using data collected by the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) which is shared with the Department of Elections (ELECT). ELECT “compares the list of individuals who have been identified as non-citizens to the list of existing registered voters and then registrars notify any matches of their pending cancellation unless they affirm their citizenship within 14 days.”
Voters, including those who are unable to verify their citizenship, are deceased, or who have moved, are removed from the voter list on a daily basis under the executive order. According to the same executive order, 6,303 non-citizens were removed from Virginia’s existing voter rolls between January 2022 and July 2024.
On Oct. 11, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit accusing Virginia officials of violating the National Voter Registration Act, which “requires a 90-day ‘quiet period’ ahead of elections for the maintenance of voter rolls,” The Associated Press reported.
The DOJ’s lawsuit claims DMV data can be “inaccurate or outdated,” with the outlet noting that officials are not “taking additional steps to verify a person’s purported noncitizen status before mailing them a notice of canceling their voter eligibility.” The outlet also indicated Youngkin’s executive order was issued on Aug. 7, or 90 days before the 2024 presidential election. (RELATED: Kamala Harris Claims Europe Saw War For ‘First Time In 70 Years’)
Youngkin responded to the lawsuit by saying Virginia was taking “commonsense steps” to ensure a secure and fair election. The lawsuit is preceded by a similar lawsuit from “a coalition of immigrant-rights groups and the League of Women Voters in Virginia,” according to an Oct. 8 article from The Associated Press.
Similarly, on Oct. 23, The Associated Press reported that more than 1,600 Virginians had their voter registrations canceled under the state’s partnership between the DMV and ELECT. Protect Democracy spokesperson Aaron Baird, who helped file a lawsuit on behalf of the League of Women Voters, said naturalized citizens were mistakenly removed from the voting rolls, the outlet indicated.
In response to the lawsuit referenced in the Oct. 8 article from The Associated Press, Youngkin spokesperson Chris Martinez said Virginia is following the law.
“Every step in the established list maintenance process is mandated by Virginia law and begins after an individual indicates they are not a citizen. The DMV is mandated by law to send information about individuals who indicate they are a noncitizen in DMV transactions to (the state elections office). Anyone spreading misinformation about it is either ignoring Virginia law or is trying to undermine it because they want noncitizens to vote,” Martinez said, according to the outlet.
U.S. District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles ordered the more than 1,600 voters who were removed from the voting rolls to be reinstated, declaring Virginia’s system was “systematic not on an individual basis as Youngkin’s administration had contended,” local news outlet ABC News 8/WRIC reported on Oct. 25.
In addition, Giles said a preliminary injunction “applies only to [the] Defendants’ systematic Program which occurred after August 7, 2024,” the outlet reported. Youngkin issued a statement, saying he would challenge the decision.
“Let’s be clear about what just happened: only eleven days before a Presidential election, a federal judge ordered Virginia to reinstate over 1,500 individuals–who self-identified themselves as noncitizens–back onto the voter rolls. Almost all these individuals had previously presented immigration documents confirming their noncitizen status, a fact recently verified by federal authorities,” Youngkin said in the statement. He did not state all these individuals voted.
The Supreme Court later issued a stay on Giles’ decision, allowing Virginia to continue to remove these individuals from the voter rolls, according to CNN. A total of 1,785,842 ballots have been cast via early voting in Virginia as of Oct. 29, according to the Virginia Public Access Project.
CNN rated Trump’s claim about illegal ballots being cast in Virginia as false in an article fact-checking his interview with Rogan.
Check Your Fact has contacted a Trump spokesperson, Youngkin and Miyares’ offices, and the DOJ for comment.