For more than a year, the Foundation has been trying to obtain records relating to the creation of guidance issued to election officials about same-day registration postcards. 

(Madison, WI) – October 18, 2024: The Public Interest Legal Foundation filed a lawsuit against the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) for failing to provide records regarding the creation of guidance issued to election officials about same-day registration safeguards.

Wisconsin has mandatory safeguards to its same-day voter registration process to “audit” voters’ claimed addresses and identify which registrations should be inactivated and referred to prosecutors.

The law requires WEC to mail postcards following each election to all voters who registered using same-day registration to verify the addresses given at the polls. When these postcards are returned to local election clerks as “undeliverable,” clerks are required to investigate each card to determine why mail delivery failed. If they cannot identify a problem within the Postal Service or a typographical error in the address needing a correction, election officials must inactivate the registrant and refer the issue to the District Attorney to investigate whether an election crime occurred.

In 2023, WEC issued updated guidance about this address verification process. For more than a year, PILF has been seeking records about the creation and implementation of this guidance and has been stonewalled by WEC.

“Same-Day Voter Registration is already a vote now verify later system,” said PILF President J. Christian Adams. “Wisconsin is adding more uncertainty to its election process by hiding election records. Wisconsin needs to be subject to the federal election transparency law. Concealing the election process from the public encourages disinformation and distrust.”

In addition to this lawsuit, PILF has a federal lawsuit to have Wisconsin’s special exemption from the National Voter Registration Act’s (NVRA) Public Disclosure Provision declared invalid. The complaints allege that the state’s exemptions violate the principle of equal state sovereignty.

Noel Johnson is the Foundation’s attorney in these cases.

Access case documents for Public Interest Legal Foundation v. Wisconsin Election Commission here.

Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) is the nation’s only public interest law firm dedicated wholly to election integrity. The Foundation exists to assist states and others to aid the cause of election integrity and fight against lawlessness in American elections. Drawing on numerous experts in the field, PILF seeks to protect the right to vote and preserve the Constitutional framework of American elections. PILF has brought lawsuits and won victories in Texas, Mississippi, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and across the United States.

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For media inquiries, please reach out to Lbowman@publicinterestlegal.org