The Supreme Court's conservative justices are allowing Virginia to continue its purge of voter registrations, which have affected 1,600 so far

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court's conservative majority on Wednesday allowed Virginia to proceed with a purge of voter registrations that the state says is aimed at discouraging people who are not U.S. citizens from voting.

Due to the disagreements of the three liberal justices, the Supreme Court granted an emergency appeal from Virginia's Republican government under Governor Glenn Youngkin. The court did not provide any justification for its actions, which is typical in urgent complaints.

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The justices responded to Virginia's appeal after a federal judge found that the state had illegally deleted more than 1,600 voter registrations in the last two months. A federal appeals court had previously allowed the judge's order to remain in effect.

Such a vote is rare in American elections, but the specter of illegal immigrants voting illegally was a major part of the political messaging of former President Donald Trump and other Republicans this year.

Trump had criticized the earlier ruling, calling it a “completely unacceptable travesty” on social media. “Only US citizens should be allowed to vote,” Trump wrote.

The Justice Department and a coalition of private groups sued the state in early October, alleging that election officials in Virginia removed names from voter rolls under an order issued by Youngkin in August, violating federal election law.

The National Voter Registration Act requires a 90-day “quiet period” for voter roll maintenance before elections so that legitimate voters are not removed from the rolls by bureaucratic errors or last-minute errors that cannot be quickly corrected.

Youngkin issued his order on August 7, the 90th day before the election. It required a daily review of state Department of Motor Vehicles data against voter rolls to identify people who are not U.S. citizens.

U.S. District Judge Patricia Giles said election officials could still remove names on an individual basis, but not through a systematic purge. Court records indicate that at least some of those whose registrations were removed are U.S. citizens.

Giles had ordered the state to notify affected voters and local registrars by Wednesday that registrations had been restored.

Youngkin said the Supreme Court's action was “a victory for common sense and electoral justice.”

“Clean voter rolls are an important part of a comprehensive approach we take to ensure the fairness of our elections,” he said in a written statement.

An attorney for the private groups that sued said people could still register to vote on Election Day. November 5th and cast their vote.

“The Supreme Court allowing Virginia to conduct a last-minute purge involving many known eligible citizens in the final days before an election is outrageous,” said Danielle Lang, senior director of voting rights at the Campaign Legal Center.

Nearly 6 million Virginians are eligible to vote.

In a similar lawsuit in Alabama, a federal judge this month ordered the state to restore voting rights to more than 3,200 voters who were deemed ineligible noncitizens. Testimony from state officials in the case showed that about 2,000 of the 3,251 voters who were inactivated were actually legally registered citizens.

Associated Press writers Matthew Barakat in Alexandria, Va., and Lindsay Whitehurst contributed to this report.