In response, Youngkin said he was enforcing a 2006 law signed by then-Governor Tim Kaine and called the lawsuit unprecedented and a politically motivated action to interfere with Virginia's elections.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a lawsuit against the state of Virginia for purging voter rolls on Friday. The department claims state officials violated the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA) by challenging voters’ eligibility too close to the November election.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin denounced the Justice Department for the decision and said the state would act to “defend these commonsense steps."

The Justice Department is suing to stop Virginia from removing voters from rolls too close to election, but Gov. Youngkin defends the practice.

The U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Virginia election officials Friday that accuses the state of striking names from voter rolls in violation of federal election law.

The Department of Justice’s recent lawsuit against Virginia marked the second attempt in as many weeks from the federal government to stop states from cleaning their voter registration lists in the lead-up to the election.