Federal Court Rules Maine Cannot Restrict Use Of Voter Roll Data By Government Watchdog

A United States District Court ruled yesterday that the state of Maine cannot limit the use of its voter roll data in accordance with the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 ( NVRA ) in a victory for election integrity.

The Public Interest Legal Foundation( PILF ), a law firm solely focused on issues relating to election integrity, asked for copies of the state’s voter records way back in October 2019. However, a state legislation that limits access to its spins to preferred companies, such as political parties, prevented Maine’s Secretary of State from granting the company its demand. Then, in February 2020, PILF filed a lawsuit for entry.

However, in order to make PILF’s way irrelevant, Maine changed its constitution to permit access to its voter files as long as the state legislature had already given its pre-approval for any research pertaining to those files. Due to that improve, PILF was forbidden from identifying record registrants who had moved between the states by comparing Maine’s voter rolls to those of New York. Since the NVRA outlaws hefty charges and uses restrictions when accessing say voting move data, anything other than monitoring Maine’s conformity with cleaning its voter rolls runs the risk of resulting in a serious good.

Now, PILF modified its complaint to object to Maine’s fines and implement limitations on its voting roll data.

A lobbyist for the state’s Democratic Party and the Electronic Privacy Information Center( EPIC ), a group that had sued the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity in 2017 in order to block access to state voter rolls for research comparisons, were among those involved in drafting the changes to Maine state law, according to the lawsuit that PILF filed.

Fortunately, a federal jury decided on Tuesday that Maine’s voting roll restrictions are impeding the accountability Congress intended when it passed the NVRA.

J. Christian Adams, president of PILF, declared in a statement that this was” a huge victory for election integrity.” It would have been very challenging to keep Maine and many election officials responsible due to the use restrictions. This decision will prompt some states to reconsider enacting laws of a similar nature.

Maine is not the only state that erects obstacles to public responsibilities and voting roll transparency in the form of hefty fines and strange restrictions. Additionally, PILF has sued the New Mexico Secretary of State for charging more than$ 5,000 for a copy of the state’s voter rolls. Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin are additional reports that demand exorbitant fees for voting information.

Victoria Marshall works for The Federalist as a staff artist. Her reading has appeared in Townhall, the National Review, and the New York Post. In May 2021, she received her degree from Hillsdale College, majoring in elections and a minor in media. Follow her @ vemrshll on Twitter.

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