Velazquez on Department of Justice Intervention in Brooklyn Voter Purge

Washington, DC – Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez (D-NY) released the following statement regarding news that the Department of Justice has filed a motion claiming the New York Board of Elections violated the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 when it removed Brooklyn voters from the rolls this past April:

    “We must be absolutely vigilant in protecting voting rights – one of the most precious and fundamental rights in our democracy, so I am pleased to see the Department of Justice intervene.  I look forward to seeing this case make its way through the Courts so New Yorkers can have confidence this will not happen again -- and voters will not be disenfranchised.”  

Last summer, WNYC reported that voters in Velázquez’s Congressional District, New York’s 7th, were disproportionately impacted by the voter purge, which prompted Velázquez to call on the Department of Justice to provide federal election monitors for last June’s Congressional primary.