State Attorney General Jay Jones Announcement... Three weeks before the midterm elections, a dedicated 'Voting Rights Protection Bureau' team was launched
Unfair registration cancellations and voting interference are strictly enforced... The Trump administration's confrontational nature of strengthening federal regulations
Just three weeks ahead of the U.S. midterm elections on November 3, Virginia has established a dedicated legal department to protect voters' voting rights and crack down on election law violations.
On the 14th (Wednesday), Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones launched the 'Voter Protection Section' within the state prosecutor's office and appointed a dedicated lawyer. They announced that they will deploy personnel to investigate election-related illegal activities and begin enforcing state election laws.
The newly created department will focus on illegal voter registration cancellations, rejection of mail-in ballots (absentee ballots), voter intimidation and extortion, and obstruction of election administration.
At a time when voting rights protections at the federal level are shaken and the Donald Trump administration seeks to strengthen control over state election management, Attorney General Jones, a Democrat, said, "In a situation where voting rights protections at the federal level are shaken and the Donald Trump administration seeks to strengthen control over state election management, Virginia voters “The need for a dedicated organization to protect rights has become greater,” he said, explaining the reason for the new establishment. He continued, "As elections are held every year in Virginia, protecting voting rights is a 24/7 responsibility, and the legitimate rights of voters will be protected."
Director Ajay Saini, who will lead the Voting Rights Protection Bureau, said, "We will closely review and investigate issues raised by complaints, such as discriminatory redistricting for minorities, changes to polling places, and language support restrictions," and added, "We will also actively address voting barriers experienced by disabled, student, and military voters." “We plan to step forward,” he explained.
This measure is a follow-up measure to strongly enforce the ‘Virginia Voting Rights Act’ enacted by the state of Virginia in 2021. This law, which was passed under the leadership of current U.S. Representative Jennifer McClellan and others at the time, was aimed at prohibiting election discrimination on the grounds of race, skin color, linguistic minority, etc., and received attention as the first state-level voting rights law among the southern states of the U.S.
In particular, the establishment of this dedicated department by the state prosecutors is largely in response to the controversy over voter list deletion that has continued in recent years and the Trump administration's attempts to regulate mail-in voting. Virginia suffered during the 2024 presidential election, due to an error in driver's license (DMV) records, many legitimate voters with citizenship were mistaken for non-citizens and were deleted from the list.In addition, after a legal battle against federal mail-in voting restrictions that were recently initiated by President Trump's executive order, they won the case and maintained the current mail-in voting process.
Meanwhile, Attorney General Jones, who is black, said, "The right to vote was never simply obtained, and it is a legacy created by the sacrifice and courage of previous generations," adding, "Defending civil rights and voting rights is a very meaningful mission for me personally."
Currently, early voting for the midterm elections is available throughout Virginia. The process is in full swing, and state authorities plan to do everything possible to ensure that all eligible voters can cast their precious vote.