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FACT CHECK: Fact-Checking Trump’s Claim That Thousands Of Illegal Ballots Have Been Cast In Virginia

2024 Republican candidate and former President Donald Trump spoke during an Oct. 25 interview on Joe Rogan’s podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience.” claimed Thousands of illegal votes were cast in Virginia.

Verdict: Misleading

1,600 voters were removed from the voter list on suspicion of being non-citizens. There is no evidence that all of these voters cast ballots, or that Virginia found “thousands of illegal ballots.”

Fact check:

The latest ABC/Ipsos poll shows 2024 Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris leading Trump among likely voters, 51% to 47%, while a recent Emerson College poll shows Now, both candidates are tied at 49%. forbes.

In an Oct. 25 interview, Trump claimed that thousands of illegal votes were 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 during his conversation with Logan. “So we have a case.” [in Virginia] There they discovered thousands of illegal ballots. Just today, just before I got here, I heard that a judge ruled that they have to be able to vote. Oh, and the judge ruled that those people had to be held. They are illegal and illegal voting. Now I think they will be overturned in the next court,” the former president added.

This claim is misleading. On August 7, 2024, Youngkin Executive Order 35or “Comprehensive Election Security to Protect Legal Voters and Accurate Counts.” The executive order establishes several measures aimed at keeping Virginia’s elections secure, including removing noncitizens from existing voter rolls.

After completing a voter registration application, noncitizens are identified using data collected by the Department of Motor Vehicles and Transportation (DMV), which is shared with the Department of Elections (ELECT). ELECT will “compare the list of individuals identified as non-citizens with the list of existing registered voters, and the Registrar will notify the person of the pending cancellation unless citizenship is confirmed within 14 days.”

Voters, including those who cannot prove their citizenship, those who have died, and those who have moved, will be removed from the voter list on a daily basis under the executive order. According to the executive order, 6,303 noncitizens were removed from Virginia’s existing voter rolls from January 2022 to July 2024.

On October 11, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit accusing Virginia officials of violating the law. National Voter Registration ActIt states that it “requires a 90-day ‘quiet period’ before an election to maintain voter rolls.” Associated Press Reported.

The Justice Department’s lawsuit alleges that DMV data may be “inaccurate or outdated,” and the news outlet reports that the agency “has not identified a person as a noncitizen before mailing a notice of voter disqualification.” “No additional steps have been taken to confirm the status of the The outlet also suggested that Yonkin’s executive order was issued on August 7, 90 days before the 2024 presidential election. (Related: Kamala Harris claims there was war in Europe ‘for the first time in 70 years’)

Yonkin said in his lawsuit that Virginia is taking “common sense steps” to ensure a safe and fair election. This lawsuit was preceded by a similar lawsuit by “a coalition of immigrant rights groups and the League of Women Voters of Virginia,” according to an Oct. 8 article. Associated Press.

Similarly, on October 23rd, Associated Press reported that more than 1,600 Virginians had their voter registration canceled under the state’s partnership with DMV and ELECT. Aaron Baird, a spokesman for Protect Democracy, which helped file the lawsuit on behalf of the League of Women Voters, said the newspaper reported that naturalized citizens were mistakenly removed from voter rolls.

In response to the lawsuit mentioned in an Oct. 8 article in The Associated Press, Youngkin spokesman Chris Martinez said Virginia is following the law.

“All steps in the established list maintenance process are required by Virginia law and begin after an individual represents that they are not a citizen. DMV must provide information about an individual indicating non-citizenship in a DMV transaction. It is required by law to send the information to the (State Department of Elections). Those who are spreading misinformation about it are either ignoring Virginia law or are violating Virginia law because they want non-citizens to vote. Either they’re trying to undermine it,” Martinez said.

U.S. District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles declared that Virginia’s system was “systematic, not individual-based, as the Youngkin administration had claimed,” and more than 1,600 voters were removed from voting rolls. local news outlets reported that he was ordered to return to work. ABC News 8/WRIC It was reported on October 25th.

Additionally, Giles said the preliminary injunction “applies only to:” [the] “Defendants’ systematic program that occurred after August 7, 2024.” Yonkin issued a statement saying: challenge Decided.

“Let’s be clear about what happened: Just 11 days before the presidential election, a federal judge ordered the state of Virginia to reinstate more than 1,500 people who identify as noncitizens on its voter rolls.” “Nearly all of these individuals had previously submitted immigration documents confirming their non-citizen status, a fact recently confirmed by federal authorities,” Youngkin said in a statement. He did not say all of these individuals voted.

The Supreme Court later blocked Giles’ decision and allowed Virginia to continue removing these individuals from its voter rolls, according to reports. CNN. As of October 29, a total of 1,785,842 early votes had been cast in Virginia. Virginia Public Access Project.

CNN In a fact-check article about his interview with Logan, he rated Trump’s claims about illegal voting in Virginia as false.

Check Your Fact has reached out to President Trump’s spokesperson, Youngkin and Miyares’ offices, and the Department of Justice for comment.