Pine State News

The Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) racked up another win in its legal challenges against state election officials who do not turn voter rolls over for public inspection, this time in Maine. 

Judge George Singal of the U.S. District Court in Maine let stand two of three complaints PILF filed against Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows after she declined to send the foundation an electronic copy of the state’s voter registration list. 

The judge agreed with PILF’s interpretation of the National Voting Registration Act (NVRA), which the group has cited in complaints filed in other states. The NVRA’s public disclosure provision provides for the inspection of voter rolls to ensure their accuracy. 

The PILF is a legal group based in Indianapolis.

“This case is about transparency and the public’s right to know about vulnerabilities in our elections,” PILF President J. Christian Adams in a statement. “The court adopted our interpretation of the National Voter Registration Act and strengthened our rights to ensure that voter rolls are accurately maintained. This ruling is a victory for election integrity.”

In this instance, Maine went a step further when its legislature approved a measure blocking access to the files. Singal ruled, however, that the NVRA still takes precedence.

“In support of its claim that Maine’s restrictions on use and dissemination of the voter file stand as obstacles to the NVRA, the plaintiff (PILF) points again to the NVRA’s public disclosure provision,” the judge wrote in his opinion. “According to [the] plaintiff’s theory, the public disclosure provision ‘conveys Congress' intention that the public should be monitoring the state of the voter files and the adequacy of election officials’ list maintenance programs.’ 

By limiting [the] plaintiff’s ability to use the Maine’s voter file to evaluate other states’ compliance with their respective NVRA obligations and to release all or portions of the voter file publicly," Singal added "[the] the plaintiff claims, Maine’s law stands as an obstacle to the achievement of the purposes of the NVRA.” 

PILF spokeswoman Lauren Bowman told the Pine State News that the case is closest to one PILF filed in Illinois. The Illinois General Assembly, likewise, passed a measure blocking access to the files. PILF was recently victorious there as well. 

Back in September 2020, PILF published the results of a massive inspection of voter rolls in 42 states, titled Safeguarding America’s Votes and Elections (SAFE).  Among other irregularities, it found 349,773 deceased voter registrants, and that in the 2018 general election, 37,889 duplicate registrants “apparently casting two votes from the same address.”

This number is a tiny fraction of the millions of voters who participated in the 2018 elections.