Finding the 5,556 voters removed as noncitizens was not easy. As the 2017 Alien Invasion II details, only eight (8) locales in the Commonwealth originally complied with PILF’s records requests that informed the original Alien Invasion study released in 2016. Some officials disclosed to PILF investigators that political appointees loyal to Governor Terry McAuliffe (D) gave guidance that prohibited the disclosure of the alien voters in question, citing the federal Drivers Privacy Protection Act (DPPA). In October 2016, PILF was forced to sue the City of Manassas and Chesterfield County to dislodge information. After a federal judge predictably ruled that the DPPA did not permit election records to be concealed, jurisdictions began submitting documents as originally requested.

After jurisdictions across Virginia finally turned over their illegal voter lists, PILF partnered with the Virginia Voters Alliance to study the rates of participation among the aliens.

Public Interest Legal Foundation’s research efforts did not occur in a vacuum. Repeatedly, Governor McAuliffe thwarted legislative reforms that would improve the integrity of Virginia’s voter registration and voting systems–some of which were inspired by PILF’s 2016 report. The 2017 edition outlines some lowlights: