WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court’s conservative majority Wednesday allowed Virginia to resume its purge of voter registrations that the state says is aimed at stopping people who are not U.S. citizens from voting.

The high court, over the dissents of the three liberal justices, granted an emergency appeal from Virginia’s Republican administration led by Gov. Glenn Youngkin. The court provided no rationale for its action, which is typical in emergency appeals.

The justices acted on Virginia’s appeal after a federal judge found that the state illegally purged more than 1,600 voter registrations in the past two months. A federal appeals court had previously allowed the judge’s order to remain in effect.

Such voting is rare in U.S. elections, but the specter of immigrants voting illegally has been a main part of the political messaging this year from former President Donald Trump and other Republicans.

Trump, the Republican nominee for the White House, had criticized the earlier ruling, calling it “a totally unacceptable travesty” on social media.

Youngkin said voters who believe they were improperly removed from the rolls can still vote in the election because Virginia has same-day registration.

That option was noted also by the campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee.

“Every eligible voter has a right to cast their ballot and have their vote counted, and this ruling does not change that,” campaign spokesman Charles Lutvak said in a statement.

The Justice Department and a coalition of private groups sued the state earlier in October, arguing that Virginia election officials, acting on an executive order issued in August by Youngkin, were striking names from voter rolls in violation of federal election law.

The National Voter Registration Act requires a 90-day “quiet period” ahead of elections for the maintenance of voter rolls so that legitimate voters are not removed from the rolls by bureaucratic errors or last-minute mistakes that cannot be quickly corrected.