Virginia does not have to restore the registrations of 1,600 voters, some of whom appear to have been wrongly removed, ahead of next week’s election, the US supreme court said on Wednesday.
The court made the decision on its emergency docket and did not give a rationale for its decision, which is customary for rulings on an expedited basis. All three liberal justices on the court – Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson – said they would not have halted a lower-court ruling earlier in October ordering the state to restore the voter registrations.
The legal dispute centers on a 7 August executive order by the Virginia governor, Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, directing the state to run its voter registration rolls against DMV data on a daily basis to check for non-citizens. The justice department and civil rights groups sued, saying that the state was violating a federal law that prohibits systematic removals of voters within 90 days of a federal election.
You don’t need to emigrate. Look at the Ukraine war. Most people in the actual fighting areas didn’t leave until days before the Russians arrived. Although if that happens, a civil war is pretty much instant refugee status anywhere in the western world.
Also, while SCOTUS has clearly cast their ballot, Virginia wasn’t a state on the Democratic party path to victory. So all is not yet lost.
In the case it does happen and you’re not in a safe zone; what you need to do is pay attention, and be ready to move away from the fighting. Keep a go bag of all your documents, 72 hours of non perishable food, changes of clothes, and weather gear. Figure out what you need to walk, (I need a walking stick these days). The primary method of evacuation is usually walking because if you’ve waited too long then cars become targets. If you can’t walk then figure out the helper organizations. They will exist, they will give rides with drivers who voluntarily and often drive into the bad areas so they’ll have the experience necessary. If you have to shelter in place, plan to have weeks of non perishable food on hand. The Russians kept a 24 hour curfew in Bucha for over a week. It’s a war crime to do so, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen.
Normally I would say follow all directions from soldiers of either side, but the Republicans have been open with some very violent tendencies. So I would hide from them and follow all instructions from friendly soldiers, no matter how weird they seem. (Walk on this path 50m to the left of the road being a common one for everyone’s protection)
I sincerely hope you need none of this advice, we’re not there yet, but if it comes to an actual civil war you can survive.