(Alexandria, VA) – May 6, 2021: Today, the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) Litigation Counsel Kaylan Phillips testified before the U.S. Committee on House Administration on the importance of voter registration list maintenance.

In prepared remarks, Phillips noted that inaccurate voter rolls are an important issue affecting election integrity across the country.

“A significant problem facing America’s electoral process is the chronic inaccuracy and lack of integrity in the voter rolls that list the individuals registered to vote.”

She pointed to PILF’s finding that one Pennsylvania voter had seven active registrations to illustrate the importance of list maintenance to conduct free and fair elections.

“For example, we discovered one Pennsylvania resident that had seven active registrations because a third-party voter drive registered him seven times in the weeks before the 2016 Election.”

Phillips argued that accurate voter rolls are even more important with mail balloting. Inaccurate rolls can lead to automatic mail ballots being sent to the wrong addresses and people receiving duplicate ballots with variations of their name.

“In the aftermath of the 2020 Election, lawmakers must come to understand that the overall quality of an election experience relying heavily on mail balloting rests on the reliability of the voter registration lists. Vote-by-mail plus inaccurate registration lists equals problems.”

In conclusion, Philips argued against HR 1, which will only make voter registration list maintenance worse. Instead, Congress should adjust existing laws including expanding removal categories.  

“We do not need H.R. 1 to generate improvements to our election systems. Instead, adjustments to existing federal laws would create positive downstream effects on voter registration list maintenance and election administration.”

Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) is a 501(c)(3) 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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